


Magic Capacity

by WHYeeY



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Death, Gen, Inspired by Anime, Magic, Mild Language, Original Character(s), Supernatural Elements, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-02-20 20:56:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2442875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WHYeeY/pseuds/WHYeeY
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's had strange abilities for as long as he can remember and has hid it from everyone, even his sister. When a full scale rebellion erupts in the city, he suddenly becomes a person of interest to both sides as he struggles to keep those close to him safe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just a Regular Guy

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing a more large scale story, as well as my first story on this site. It may be rough around the edges, but it's more to test my writing abilities. I really enjoy writing my own stories though, so I may make more in the future.
> 
> This particular story is heavily influenced by light novels and anime, meaning there will probably be strange natural hair colors or other tropes related to anime. I like that kind of thing a lot so make sure to keep this in mind when reading. Will probably have some minor grammatical errors.

  

    Sora wanted to believe he was normal. He really did. That was the only way he could keep his sanity after he found what he could do. It was only a couple of years ago that he found out he possessed these strange powers, and he just wanted to blow them off as a hallucination or illusion. It became increasingly apparent that it wasn’t though.

    He just needed to pretend like they don’t exist, and he would be able to continue to normally go to school and finish his education like he wanted. He told no one about them, ever. Not even his sister knew. He didn’t even know how she would react if she knew.

    “I wonder if she would accept it?” Sora spoke out loud as he turned over in his bed to look at the time. “Six in the morning, eh? Why am I up this early? Jeez…” He sat up and looked around, seeing nothing particularly out of the ordinary. His alarm was still an hour away from ringing, and yet he was already awake. He shrugged and walked towards the bathroom to start getting ready.

    After finishing getting dressed and touching his hair up, he headed downstairs for breakfast.

    “Guess no one’s awake yet.” He thought for a second, “I suppose I can make something myself.” He nodded and started preparing breakfast, making sure to make enough for his sister as well.

    Just as he was finishing making his pancakes, which was pretty much the only thing he knew how to make, a familiar figure appeared in the kitchen doorway.

    “Why’re you up so early Sora?” His sister yawned as she walked in and sat down at the table opposite the kitchen counter.

    “Cooking”, Sora replied with a smug grin. “Sleep well Nanami?”

    She nodded as she yawned again and looked sleepily over at Sora. She was still in her pajamas and her hair was messy with bedhead.

    “Don’t you think you should at least get ready first?” Sora looked over with a frown as he placed the plate of pancakes in front of Nanami.

    “I wanna eat first.”

    “Fine, just make sure you clean up after yourself.”

    “Yea, yea…”

    Nanami looked over to the TV and turned in on with the remote that lay beside her. A news report about recent uprisings against the government popped up.

    “The protesters have, after many years of violence against the government, finally risen in an organized fashion and created their very own resistance group. Little is known about the group and their current whereabouts, but we do know that they go simply by the name ‘Opium’. There is no further information beyond this at the moment…”, the reporter on the TV trailed off as Nanami turned the volume way down and proceeded to consume her pancakes at lightning speed.

    “I really won’t ever understand people like those rebels. They seem to fight against the government just for fighting’s sake. Seems pretty pointless to me,” Nanami commented with her mouth still full of pancakes.

    “They just don’t like the new policies the government is putting out. Nothing we can do about it,” Sora shrugged as he began to shuffle out of the room, “Start getting ready soon, or else we’ll be late.”

    Nanami stuffed the rest of the food into her face and hurriedly ran past Sora up the stairs. “Sorry! I’ll be down in a second!”

    Sora sighed and waited patiently by the door until she came back down ten minutes later.

    “Ready now?”

    “I’m ready! Let’s go!” Nanami trotted out the door as Sora followed behind her, locking the door as he left.

 

    Nanami looked over at Sora as they walked to school. “You feeling alright? You’ve been acting quite strange lately. Waking up early, cooking breakfast, and being ready for school before me are not normal things for you.”

    “Of course I’m fine. I don’t know why I’ve been waking up early either, but I’ll be okay. Probably.”

    “Are you depressed because you don’t have any friends even though it’s your second year of high school?” It seemed like a legitimate inquiry without any malice behind it, but Sora couldn’t help but be annoyed by that comment.

    “I talk to people!” He sighed before continuing. “That’s not the point anyway. Just leave me alone, because I’m perfectly fine.”

    It may have been true that he technically had no friends in his current school even though it’s his second year. All he could do was find solace in the fact that his sister now attended his school as a first year.

_The only reason is because I keep to myself thanks to my weird powers. It’s not like I want to be a loner._ This was all Sora could think about recently. It seemed to be plaguing his mind more than usual. What a pain.

    “Okay, well I gotta get to the opening ceremony, so I’ll go on ahead.”

    “Alright, try not to get lost.” Sora chuckled at his own statement.

    “Jeez, I won’t get lost! See you later.” Nanami picked up her pace and continued walking faster until she was out of Sora’s view. Sora continued to walk slowly and steadily, just like always, thinking to himself.

    Once he got to the school gates, he sighed and yawned. “I really don’t want to go to school today…” He sighed again as he walked through the school gates and continued on to his first class as the first bell of the day rang.


	2. The School Assualt

    Sora never payed attention in class. To him, it was just pointless background noise to his own thoughts. This was more true than ever with his mind running the way it was. He sighed as he turned his attention out the window, drowning out the teacher’s lecture with his own thoughts.

    _Ah, what the hell is wrong with my brain? Why are the weird abilities the only thing I can think about? I’ve always had them, not like it’s a new thing to me._ He figured it was an omen of some sort, perhaps of something bad. Not like he could figure out what it would mean, even if he did put more thought into it. _I’ll just keep it out of mind, I suppose._

    Just as this thought crossed his mind, he heard a low rumbling noise. It started to grow louder and louder as he looked frantically out the window to find the source. _The hell?_

    After several seconds looking out the window, a giant machine appeared in the courtyard. Sora could see it fairly well due to the fact he was on the third story but couldn’t quite tell what it was at first. He continued to stare at the strange object until he came to a realization that more were coming in. _That certainly doesn’t look natural!_

    He squinted real hard until he could make out the shapes and what they were. They were tanks. Certainly not something that was supposed to be on a school campus.

    Sora slammed his hands down on his desk as he dramatically stood up. “WHAT THE F-” he was immediately cut off as a loud boom rocked the building and caused the entire room to shake violently. Sora stumbled over and grabbed the edge of the window, managing to stabilize himself in the process. He pulled himself back up and peered out the window at the legion of tanks in the courtyard. The forward tank in the middle slowly moved its turret and pointed upwards right towards his exact classroom. “GET DOWN NOW!” He screamed at the top of his lungs as another boom resounded through the air and struck the wall directly in front of him.

    A large explosion rang out as the wall shattered and the class collectively screamed in terror. There was a short silence before the students all realized they were completely unharmed by the blast. Inquisitive murmurings began but soon died as they all realized the reflective purple surface surrounding them on all sides. Sora stood in front of the entire class with his hands raised in front of him, using his powers as a shield to block the explosion from hitting anybody in the room.

    “Don’t just sit there!” Sora whipped his head around to look at the bewildered students. “Run!”

    The students seemed to decide not to argue any point, and quickly took off along with the teacher. Sora breathed a sigh of relief as they left and lowered his arms. “God that was close.” He turned his attention back to the tanks in the courtyard as he says this. Another explosion rocked the building.

    Yet another jolt from a boom causes an epiphany to befall him. “Nanami!” He turned and scrambled for the door as the sudden thought of his sister popped into his head. What if she got caught in one of those explosions? What if she’s hurt? He didn’t want to think about it as he ran down the hallway.

 

    Sora reached the first floor rather quickly in his worry, and soon realized he was in the middle of an all out firefight. Men in black armor and armed with assault rifles which he could only assume were government agents and rugged infantry from the rebellion he recognized from the TV were furiously blasting away at each other.

    _This is rather intense. The government responded really quickly, though. I suppose I can just let them handle it while I get Nanami._ He nodded to himself as he turned a corner and ran straight out of the building from the nearest door.

    He ran around the other side of the building and started heading for the gym before running right into a rebellion tank halfway between the two buildings. He skirted to a stop right in front of it as its turret turned towards him in its slow and menacing fashion.

    Not willing to let anything get in his way, he stood his ground as the tank took a shot at him with a resounding BOOM, which sounded much louder from closer up. Sora easily blocked the shell with another reflective shield and then quickly shifted into a more threatening pose. “Get the hell outta my way!” He yelled over the massive amount of noise that had started after the fighting began between the rebels and the response team he had never even notice arrived.

    He charged forward as the tank took another shot, easily dodged it, and used a magic blast to propel himself over the tank and landed safely on the other side of it. “I don’t have time for your crap.” He began his mad sprint again after landing and continued on towards the gym.

 

    After finally making to the gym, Sora forced open the door to peer inside. The large room was completely empty except for a few injured stragglers, who lied strewn about the floor. He looked around frantically until he finally found what he was looking for; his sister lying in a corner, seemingly unconscious but mostly uninjured. He breathed a sigh of relief as he ran over to her.

    He gently shook her shoulders and checked her heartbeat, then shook her shoulders again. “Hey, Nanami, wake up,” he whispered to her quietly, “We need to get out of here, quickly!” He raised his voice as more explosions could be heard just outside of the building.

    BOOM! BOOM! The entire gym rocked as the sound rattled Sora’s senses. “Guess I got no choice,” Sora gently picked up Nanami and put her on his back, “I’ll just have to carry you.” He swiftly ran out as another explosion collapsed part of the roof.

    More helicopters appeared over the horizon as the intense fighting continued. Sora continually used his powers as a shield as bullets whizzed around him and tried to find a route of escape. Just as he turned towards the front gate of the school an explosion just a few feet away took him off his feet. He slammed down hard against the pavement and Nanami’s unconscious body slid about ten feet from where he impacted. Sora spit out a few drops of blood as he stood up, only to come face to face with one of the rebellion tanks.

    The hatch on the top of the vehicle opened, and a single smirking man poked his head out of the open hatch. He had a scar over his right eye and the messiest black hair Sora had ever seen, almost like he had just gotten out of bed. His smirk grew wider as he hopped out of the hatch and landed next to the tank.

    “Why, hello there,” he bowed graciously, “You have certainly given us an interesting display here today, young man.” His smirk grew wider still.

    Sora took a defensive stance. “What the hell are you people doing at a high school?!” Sora yelled as loud as he could so he could be heard over the immense noise of the battle.

    The man looked almost baffled by the question as he tilted his head quizzically. “Never mind that boy. I’m far more interested in those magical powers you appear to possess. Mind filling me in a bit?”

    Sora scoffed, “Pft. Like you deserve any information.” Sora simply stared the man down coldly.

    “Now now, that’s not very nice,” the man wagged his finger in a disapproving manner. “I just want some simple facts.”

    “I really don’t care what you want. I’m not here to have a talk.” Sora quickly ran for Nanami, picked her back up, and made a Bee-line for the front gate.

    Just as he got outside the gate, Sora was greeted by a government agent. The agent gestured to a helicopter just a hundred or so feet away. “Get out of here quickly! It’s not safe!” Sora just nodded and ran full speed to the chopper. He loaded Nanami on and then jumped in himself. The helicopter lifted immediately after he entered, and he sat down and breathed a sigh of relief.

    “Good lord, what was that all about.” His breathing was uneven and heavy as he contemplated what just happened. His entire life, he knew, was NOT going to be the same again. After all, he just witnessed his school go up in flames because of a full scale rebellion.

 

    There was a man sitting across from Sora in the helicopter. He hadn’t noticed him until a few minutes into the ride, and almost jumped when he saw him. The doors on the helicopter closed as the faint sounds of the battle died off in the background.

    “That was quite the escape you had there,” the man narrowed his eyes, “Seems like you made it in one piece.”

    Sora straightened up. “Y-Yessir!” The man was intimidating in his black camouflage suit and assault rifle slung across his shoulder. Sora nervously twiddled his thumbs as the man continued to look him over.

    “Who’s the girl?” His facial expression didn’t change, nor did his gaze over Sora.

    “M-My sister, sir. I got her out of the school gym before it collapsed,” Sora looked down, trying not to make eye contact. “I think she’ll be okay. She’s alive at least.”

    The man simply nodded as he took off his helmet. His hair was gray and short, kept in a tidy buzz cut and going no longer than half an inch. He seemed to be contemplating something and sat in silence for the next few seconds. The man suddenly looked back up at Sora with the same expression as before.

    “Mind explaining the light show coming from you hands?” He raised an eyebrow.

    “W-Well I…”

    “You don’t have to be so nervous,” the man said as he suddenly broke out into a smile, “I’m just trying to make sure I have as much information as possible about this incident.”

    Sora stayed silent as he tried to think of an answer. _I can’t just tell him, can I? He already saw me though. Guess it doesn’t matter at this point._ He sighed at the last thought.

    “The name’s Koyama, by the way. Captain Koyama of the Third Battalion. Try to relax a little.”

    Sora looked back up. “I’m sorry Mr. Koyama, er… Captain.  Just a little confused is all.”

    Koyama nodded in understanding. “That attack sure came out of nowhere, eh? We’re not sure of their motives ourselves. This rebellion sure has gotten out of hand.” He ran his hand over the top of his head. “So, about the strange light thing. Is that normal for you?”

    “Um, well… more or less. It’s these strange powers that I’ve had since I was little. I tried keeping them a secret from everybody, but I guess there’s no hiding it now.” Sora squirmed a little in his seat as the helicopter bumped up and down for a few seconds.

    Captain Koyama seemed interested. “Since you were little you say?”

    “Yessir. As long as I can remember.”

    “Intriguing. So you were born with it?”

    “I’m not entirely sure myself, sir.”

    “I see.” Captain Koyama stared at Sora a few more seconds before leaning back in his seat. He said nothing else as the helicopter ride continued.

    Sora sat in silence until finally piping up. “So, where are we going?” He just realized he had no idea where they were taking them.

    Captain Koyama just calmly smiled at Sora. “Don’t worry, we just want to ask you a few questions. Just try to relax until we land.” He leaned back again, and the rest of the ride went by in silence.


	3. Captive

    “Comfortable?” A large man, at least twice the size of Sora, was sitting across from him at the table. His mustache curled upwards and his blonde hair was slicked back with gel. He stared intently at Sora waiting for him to respond. “Are you comfortable?” He repeated the question with a slightly annoyed tone.

    Sora waited for his eyes to completely adjust to the brightness of the room before responding. “I’d be a lot more comfortable if you’d tell me what’s going on, to be quite honest.” He looked back at the man. “I would also like to know where my sister is. Where’d you people take her?”

    “She’s in a separate interrogation room, getting asked questions just like you will be.” The man stood up and put his hand down on the table. “I’d like you to be completely honest with your answers. There’s no point in lying to us. Got that?” His eyes were practically burning holes through Sora.

    “Yessir.”

    “Good. Now, first and foremost, do you know the reason behind the attack today?”

    “Of course I don’t! Why the hell would I know that?!”

    “To make sure you’re not one of them, of course.” The man said this in a matter-of-fact way that really pissed him off. _I’m not stupid you know._ He sighed as the man moved on with his interrogation.

    “I suppose you know why you, in particular, are of interest to us.” The man raised an eyebrow.

    “Yea, I have a few ideas,” Sora said sarcastically as he leaned back in his chair. “Spooky powers right?” He raised his eyebrows in a mock astonished face and then chuckled.

    The man’s expression did not change, as he did not seem to appreciate his joke. “I’m glad you’re having fun, but this is a serious matter,” the man said as he sat back down. “You think I don’t know that?” Sora replied immediately as he leaned forward and his expression turned serious. “Do you really think I’m that stupid?”

    “Just answer the questions. Your comments are unnecessary.” The man sniffed once and coughed. “How long have you had these abilities of yours?”

    “As long as I can remember.”

    “Were you born with them?”

    “I have no idea. I never told anyone else about them before.”

    “It could be a good ally to us.”

    “What? The powers?”

    “Yes. They would help our efforts greatly in this out breaking war.”

    “You’re joking right?” Sora almost snorted at the idea. “There’s no way I’m fighting in a war. I’m seventeen!” Sora waited for the man to respond, but he just sat there and stared at him for another few seconds before rising and walking towards the door. Sora jumped up. “Where the hell are you going?!”

    “I’ll have more information for you later. For now, just rest,” the man said as he swiftly exited the room, leaving Sora enveloped in silence. He clicked his tongue in annoyance as he sat down on the single bed in the corner of the all white room. _Now what? This is so messed up. I feel like a prisoner._ He lied down and continued to think about what might happen in the near future, until he finally fell asleep from the overwhelming exhaustion that consumed him.

 

    “What the hell is this bullshit?!” Sora yelled loudly as the man told him the current situation. It had been a few days of Sora simply waiting for something to happen, only for the man to come back and tell him he can’t see his sister nor leave the room. “You really think you’ll get on my good side by confining me and holding my sister hostage?!” Sora was completely outraged.

    “We fear she might distract you,” the man responded calmly. “Plus, you need to focus on how to use your abilities. It is necessary that you learn how to properly control yourself in a battle situation so you can assist us in our operations.” The man looked down at Sora and waited for a response.

    Sora was almost at a loss for words over how ludicrous this plan was. “I’m seventeen! How the hell do you expect me to help you?” Sora was legitimately confused by now, not even knowing what the proper reaction was to something like this. All he could think about was his sister and whether he’d be able to see his family again. He felt the urge to cry at this point, but held back in order to maintain his composure. “Besides, I don’t want to use my powers to hurt people.”

    The man stroked his mustache and then sat down at the table in the middle of the room. “At this point, you have no choice. You are under government surveillance now.” He said it so calmly that he might as well be telling Sora the weather forecast. He clenched his fists and bit his lip.

    “At least let me see my sister,” Sora replied as calmly as he could. “Or else I won’t even consider helping you. Seriously, where’s the logic in keeping us separated?” He gave the man a cold stare in a vain attempt to intimidate him.

    The man thought for a good five minutes before finally giving him an answer. “I’m sorry, but you have no choice but to comply. Don’t think we won’t use force if you rebel.” The man stood up and walked to the door. “You will be briefed on your training tomorrow morning. Be prepared.” With that, he left and closed the door behind him. A large lock could be heard from the other side.

    Sora sat down on his bed, unimaginably angry as his brain tried to look for a solution. _I could just break out._ He nodded to himself, but soon realized what that entailed. _Would probably hurt a lot of people in an escape attempt like that. Damn._ He kept thinking and thinking, trying to figure out a peaceful solution to his predicament. _Nope,_ he thought again. _There’s no way out of this except by force._

    However much he disliked the idea, he knew it was true. The boring white walls pissed him off more and more the longer he stayed there, and not being able to see Nanami only made him worry. He had to break himself out, along with his sister, and get the hell out of the city. That was the only way he was sure she’d be safe. Plus, they’d have to go into hiding.

 

    Keeping the thoughts of escape fresh in his mind, he waited until the sky turned dark and the hour turned late. It was about midnight when he finally moved from his bed and stood up facing the door. _Now or never. Now or never._ He kept repeating the same thoughts over and over, trying to convince himself he was making the right decision. _Alright, let’s go._

    He charged a blast on his hand, and waited until his fist was glowing a dark purple color before blowing the door off of its hinges. An alarm immediately rang out as as he ran through the doorway. _Probably should’ve seen that coming._ He continued on down the hallway and turned to his left, trying to figure out where to go next. _Shit, how am I supposed to find Nanami?_

    He looked down both sides of the corridor but simply saw the same white walls of the previous hallway. _It’s like a rat maze._ Sora continued down the left hallway until turning another corner, only to come face to face with a familiar figure. “Captain Koyama,” Sora said out loud as the man appeared in front of him. “How nice to see you again.” Sora had to speak loudly to be able to be heard over the blaring alarms.

    “Quite a disruption you’ve caused, my boy,” Koyama drew his rifle from over his shoulder, “but I’m afraid I can’t let you go any further.” He pointed his gun directly at Sora. “Surrender please.”

    “Sorry, but I’ve pretty much had my fill of this place. I’m taking my sister and getting out of here.” Sora took a defensive stance and waited for Captain Koyama’s reaction. For a few seconds, all he could hear was the blaring of the alarm.

    “We need you,” Koyama said as he took a step closer.

    “I don’t care.” Sora instinctively stepped back at the same time.

    “How cold.”

    “Not cold, sensible. You really think I want to fight a war?”

    “If you run, I have orders to kill you. You’re dangerous unless supervised.” He took another step closer.

    “I haven’t been under supervision this entire time, and I haven’t done anything wrong. This is completely unnecessary. This has to be illegal.” Sora knew he was talking to a government agent, but it simply seemed completely unlawful to be confined like he had been.

    “We make the laws in this city, we can do whatever we want.” Captain Koyama shrugged and stepped forward one more time. “Last chance before you’re an enemy of the city.” Another step forward.

    “Bite me.” Sora shot a blast from his hand before immediately dodging to the right, avoiding the bullet he knew would be fired after Koyama dodged his attack. He sprinted forward at full force and rammed right into Captain Koyama, causing him to stumble as Sora blasted past him and around a corner. “Why you-,” was all Sora heard before he rounded the corner and heard nothing but alarms again.

    Sora kept running through the halls, but couldn’t find Nanami nor an exit. _What the hell is up with this place?!_ Sora rounded another corner and saw an exit immediately in front of him. He found a way out, but still had to find Nanami. He knew he still had to get his sister, but he seriously doubted he’d be able to find the exit again if he went back. “Shit,” was all Sora was able to say before going for the exit. He was surprised how easy it was to get out after running into Captain Koyama. He burst through the exit door and out into the freezing cold night air. He ran up a hill and, shivering, turned around to look at the entirety of the building he had just escaped.

    _Now what?_ He still didn’t have Nanami with him, which meant she was still in there. He knew he had to get her out, but he would need a plan, and a lot of help. “Guess I have no choice then,” Sora spoke out loud as he turned his back to the facility and started walking towards the city. “I’ll come back Nanami. I promise I’ll get you out.” He broke into a sprint as he continued to the city, only looking back once to make sure that no one was following him.


	4. The Streets

    Over the next few days, Sora attempted to find help. After escaping his imprisonment and taking refuge in a nearby alley, he set about seeing if anyone was willing to lend their assistance. Most of the time he was either threatened or ignored. He knew asking criminals was out of the question, so he decided to check local bars in the general vicinity. He searched for two days with no luck. He was getting desperate.

  
     On the third day of his search he went to the last bar that he knew of. It was a run down little place that was popular with the more shady individuals, so he figured he could find some strong help there. As he stood in front of the door he took a deep breath, built up all his courage, and pushed it open.

  
     The unsurprising smell of cigarette smoke filled the air, and it made Sora's nose crinkle. He looked around intently, but saw that there weren't many people there. Aside from the one man in a big hat sitting at the bar, there were only three other men, huddled at a corner table playing what he assumed was poker. He took a deep sigh as he sat down at the bar. _It's a bust._ He ordered himself a water, since it was free and he obviously had no money. He sighed again.

  
     “You seem disappointed. Looking for something in particular?” the other man sitting at the bar asked as he looked up at Sora from his drink. He lifted his eyebrows expectantly.

  
     “Excuse me?” Sora looked over, confused.

  
     The man laughed heartily. “I know exactly who you are. You're the one that broke out of that government prison.” He took a long swig from his drink and slammed the cup on the table.

  
     “You know who I am?!” Sora replied in shock. He tensed up and got ready to run.

  
     The man gestured for him to calm down. “Indeed. You are quite infamous among the bounty hunters in the area. There's a fairly large price on your head, son.” He finished his drink and turned to order another as Sora spoke.

  
     “So you're after me, then?” Sora was all of a sudden very worried, but managed to keep his composure. He would flee only if he needed to.

  
     The man took a sip of his second beer. “I would be, if I wasn't retired.” He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and gently placed the cup on the counter. “You actually seem like a fairly sensible fellow, so I thought I'd help you out. Name's Jay, by the way. Call me Jay.”

  
     “Why would you help an outlaw?”

  
     “I help anyone I can. Ever since I retired, I can help anyone I damn well please. I have quite a few useful connections.” Jay picked his beer back up and downed the rest of it. “So, what is it ya need?” he inquired after slamming his second mug on the tabletop.

  
     Sora was skeptical. “I need help with a breakout.” He would provide no more information until he knew Jay could be trusted. He didn't want to take any chances.

  
     “You look like you're out already, son.”

  
     “Not for me. My sister.”

  
     “Can't you just do it yourself? The reports said you were heavily armed and extremely dangerous.”

  
     “Only because of my abilities. I have no guns or knives.”

  
     Jay all of a sudden became very interested as he leaned forward a bit. “Abilities, you say? Like... Magic abilities?” His eyes sparkled as he said it.

  
     Sora had a hard time hiding his surprise. “Um, yeah but... How would you know?” He became nervous again as Jay practically squealed with excitement.

  
     “Son,” he whispered while leaning over slowly,“I know just the way to help you out. Know the building across the street?”

  
     “Yeah,” Sora replied with a hopeful tone.

  
     “Once you leave this place, walk straight to that building. Go all the way up. Up to the roof. There's someone there who can help you. They're nicer than you may first think. They'll be all the help you need.” Jay slowly leaned back in his chair and winked. Then he turned back to the bartender and ordered his third drink.

  
     Sora sat still for a few seconds, absorbing the instructions to make sure he wouldn't forget. From the way Jay said it, this was exactly what he was looking for. He stood up and made a short bow in Jay's direction. “Thank you very much. If what you say is true, I'll pay you back later.” With that, he quickly turned and left through the creaky door.

  
     “Good luck!” Jay called after him with a half hearted wave. “Good luck,” he said again.

 

     It was cold on the roof. Really cold. Sora was shivering before he even reached the door. Why, exactly, there was somebody up on this roof that could help him, he had no idea. He pushed open the door and walked out as he wrapped his arms around himself to keep warm. He looked around cautiously as he took a few steps forward. It was ridiculously dark, nearly impossible to see more than a few feet in front of himself. He stopped after a couple more steps and surveyed the area to the best of his ability. He still couldn’t see much of anything.

  
     “Hello?” Sora called out as he continued looking around. The temperature just seemed to continue to drop as he took a few more steps. A chill ran down his spine as a cold breeze came over him. “God damn.” He still couldn’t see what it was he had to look for. Jay had told him there was a person up here, but it was dead quiet on the roof of the abandoned business building.

  
     “Heh,” he whispered to himself, “that’s what I get for trusting a drunk cowboy.” He shook his head and turned. “Waste of fucking time.” As he started walking, though, he thought he saw movement. It was only a split second, but something definitely moved. He whipped around quickly, but as fast as he had seen it, it was gone. He saw the shadow again for another second before it disappeared a second time. “The hell-?” his sentence was immediately cut off by a knife to his throat, which seemed to have come from behind him. There was somebody there. He could hear their breathing, soft and quiet, through the darkness. He gulped.

  
     “No one can sneak up on me. I’ve become too experienced in this crap to be taken by surprise by somebody like you.” The person behind him spoke. Their voice was high and soft, but seemed to have a demanding power to it. It was too high to be a male, but also seemed to low to be female. He couldn’t tell just from their voice. He gulped again.

  
     “Um,” Sora let out a squeaky response as he unconsciously raised his hands in submission, “I believe I may have some business with you.” He began sweating a bit as he looked down at the knife in front of him. “I-If you’re the person Jay was talking about.”

  
     They seemed to react to this, as the knife slowly lowered from Sora’s neck and they stepped back a few paces. “Why would he send you to me?” they asked as they took a couple more steps back, making them barely visible in the darkness. They were wearing a ragged black hood that covered most of their face, making it impossible to distinguish any features. The dim moonlight also didn’t help.

  
     “Well, he said you could help me. From the way he said it, you were the right person for the job.” Sora scratched his head nervously as he eyed the knife. It was smooth, shiny, and fancy looking. Definitely not something you’d get at a thrift store or cheap gun shop.

  
     They finally seemed to relax a little as they sheathed the knife into a holster on their side. After a moment of silence they spoke. “Must be one interesting job, if he recommended me. I’m not exactly a normal kind of person.” They were still in a somewhat defensive stance, but at least the knife was put away. Sora cleared his throat but still took a few seconds before deciding to speak.

  
     “Yes, well, neither am I. I need help with a jailbreak. Is that in your area of expertise?” He looked up and down at the hooded figure, but still couldn’t see many features. They were only a few centimeters shorter than him, but seemed to have a smaller stature. They looked thinner and more nimble. He couldn’t make out much else.

  
     “A jailbreak? Why?” they responded.

  
     “Because my sister is in captivity, and I would like to break her out.”

  
     “How’d she get in there?”

  
     “Got kinda dragged along with me. It’s basically entirely my fault.”

  
     “Nicely done. Where is this place?”

  
     “A government run facility on the outskirts of town. Just a mile or two out. I managed to escape but I couldn’t get my sister out. I need to go back for her.”

  
     “Why were you arrested, exactly?”

  
     “Err,” Sora thought for the right way to explain as he let out an involuntary noise, “probably because of my weird powers. Some strange magic shit or something. Not sure how to really explain it.” He scratched his head in thought. “For some reason that was the one fact that made Jay all giddy.”

  
     Their shoulders relaxed as they finally released themselves from the defensive stance. “I see. That’s most likely because I, too, have interesting abilities. Who would have thought I’d meet somebody in a similar situation.”

  
     “Wait, what, seriously?!” Sora’s eyes grew wide at this revelation. “You seriously have abilities too?”

  
     “Yes,” they said as they slowly reached up and pulled down their hood, “and I’ve been in hiding for almost five years. Those government agents are relentless.” They looked up as they pulled the hood back, looking straight into Sora’s eyes. “It’s been pretty tough, not having a home to go back to.”

  
     Sora took a step back as they revealed their face. Although he didn’t know what exactly to expect, he certainly wasn’t ready for the girl that appeared from under the hood. Her face was round and handsome, and her eyes were a piercing color of crimson. Her hair was a shining silver color and flowed majestically as another cold breeze passed through and caused Sora to shiver once more. He was completely intoxicated by her. Beautiful, yet cute at the same time. Graceful and soft looking, yet also seemed to have an air of authority around her. She seemed to also be scanning his features as he continued staring at her in awe. Her pale skin stood out an incredible amount, even in the dim moonlight. They exchanged glances for a long, quiet minute before she finally spoke again. This time there was no mistaking that it was a girl’s voice. He couldn’t even fathom how he hadn’t been able to tell just moments ago, for after seeing her face it seemed so painfully appropriate and obvious.

  
     “So you want help with a breakout? What makes you think I’ll accept?” She glared slightly menacingly as him, boring holes into him with her intense red eyes. He cleared his throat in an attempt to ensure his voice came out calmly, but it was in vain.

  
     “B-Because,” he squeaked out in a cracked voice, “Jay told me you would. He said you’re nicer than you first seem.”

  
     She flipped her hair in apparent annoyance as she adjusted something strapped to her shoulder. “Nonsense. He gives me far too much credit.”

  
     “Heh.” He didn’t know how to hold a coherent conversation anymore. Sora had never been more nervous in front of a girl in his life. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t seem to form sentences or words. He was so taken aback that he had forgotten how to speak. “I-I guess I-I’m going on faith, then.”

  
     “Ridiculous. You shouldn’t rely on faith for anything. It will get you nowhere. There’s no reason for it. No place for it. It’s pointless to have faith. It causes nothing but disappointment and pain.” She adjusted the strap again, but Sora couldn’t quite see what it was attached to.

  
     “Okay, well, putting that aside, I really need your help. There’s no way I can get her out by myself. Please.”

  
     The girl sighed softly. “Fine, I suppose I will. We seem to have some similarities, and I don’t really have much else to do with my time. Being a runaway means I sort of lack any real goals. This gives me a good opportunity. Besides, you don’t seem like a bad person. First impressions can be deceiving, though.”

  
     “Don’t worry, I’m not really that bad. My sister says I’m at least tolerable.”

  
     “Fantastic. What’s your name, anyway?”

  
     The question took Sora aback for a second, but he managed to recover fairly quickly this time. “Oh, er, Sora. Just call me Sora.”

  
     “I see. As empty as the sky, are you? I go by Maya. Call me that. Nothing else, and no honorifics.” She adjusted the strap for a third time as she continued to examine him.

   
     “A-Alright, that’s great! Thank you. I appreciate the help.” He paused for a moment before thinking of something else to say. “So, uh, what exactly can you do? I mean, you said you have powers too, right? What are they?”

  
     She seemed to finish her evaluation of him as she looked back up to meet his eyes. “I don’t think I can explain it well, but when I was incarcerated they called it ‘Empowering Magic’. I can take any object and empower it with magic, allowing me to use it for a specific purpose. With something like this, of course, it was easy for me to freeze things or set an entire room on fire. The most efficient way to use my abilities, I figured, was to empower bullets or something of the like with specific elements for self defense. Thus the reason for this.” She finally revealed what was strapped to her back, taking Sora by even more surprise. A giant sniper rifle, almost as tall as Maya herself, came into the faint light. The butt of the gun hit the ground with a thud as she leaned against it. He stood there, once again in amazement, and tried to think of something to say.

  
     “That’s… one impressive weapon you have there.”

  
     “Yea, I get that a lot. It’s surprisingly easy to hide, too.” She took the rifle and held it level in front of her eyes, like she was about to take a shot, and separated it into two halves. It came apart with a snap and the two parts folded up into small baton looking sticks. She then took them and sheathed them in a holster strapped to her right thigh. Sora really couldn’t believe this girl.

  
     “How is something like that even physically possible? That is absolutely incredible.” He could barely believe what he was seeing already, but that gun just seemed over the top. He’d never even heard of something like a fold up sniper rifle.

  
     “I was impressed, too, when I first saw it. I’m not sure how it works myself, but it’s certainly a convenient feature. My father made this rifle, so I suppose only he would know.” She looked down for a second before raising her eyes again. “Enough about that, though. We’ll need some sort of plan if we’re breaking into a government facility, won’t we? Let’s think of one.”

  
     “Yea, I suppose that’s pretty important.”

  
     “You mean you don’t have any ideas?”

  
     “Hadn’t really thought about it until just now. I was too focused on finding help.”

  
     “Well, now you have it. You can thank me later if you’d like. For now, let’s at least make some sort of strategy. I don’t want to just waltz over there only to get instantly captured.”

  
     “Well, I’m sure it’ll be okay. All we have to do is have a distraction while I find Nanami. As long as you can draw attention, I’ll be free to look for her.”

  
     “A sound idea, but I doubt they would focus all of their guards on me once they know you’re there. Which they will. I hope you can defend yourself, because if I’m a distraction on the outside, there’s no way I can protect you on the inside.”

  
     He waved his hand in a nonchalant fashion. “I’ll be fine on that. Force fields are kinda my thing, so I have no shortage of defense. You just need to focus on your job, and I’ll be perfectly fine.”

  
     Maya’s long, silver hair flowed in the wind as she thought about this a moment. “Alright then,” she finally said, “It’s not exactly well thought out, but it’ll have to do. You seem to just have a haphazard way of doing things.”

  
     “I focus on my objective, not the plan.”

  
     “That’s great. When do we leave?”

  
     “Right now.”

  
     “You want to go now?”

  
     “I can’t wait any longer. They might be doing something horrible to her.”

  
     “Yes, they probably are.”

  
     “Then let’s go.”

  
     “Right behind you.”


	5. Rescue Operation

    They moved quickly through the night to get to their destination. Sora struggled to keep up with Maya’s pace as they sneaked through alleyways and past busy streets to the outskirts of town. She took long strides that forced him to go at least twice his usual pace as they made their way to the holding facility. By the time they arrived on a hill that overlooked most of the building, Sora was almost out of breath and heaving as he tried to regain his composure.

    “Did you really have to be… in so much of a hurry? It seriously only took us an hour to get here?” he said as he bent over to finish catching his breath.

    “You were the one who was anxious to get here. Stop complaining and get ready. We’re here for your sister, and we’re going up against what, at least one hundred guards?”

    “Probably more. I may have gotten out easily the first time, but I think this place is actually pretty high security. I saw a lot of them on my way in.”

    “Great. The odds certainly seem shitty to me.” She took out two slim pieces of black metal and clamped them together as they began to whir and transform in her hands. Her rifle was fully deployed in a matter of seconds. “The best part is our complete lack of a comprehensive plan.”

    Sora frowned as he thought for a second. “I think it’ll be okay. As long as we watch each other's backs, we should get through this. Besides, the sooner I get Nanami, the sooner we can get out of here.”

    “Let’s hurry, then.” She slung her rifle across her shoulder and put her hand on her hip. “Ready?”

    He straightened up. “Y-Yes. I’m ready.” He shifted nervously as he said it, making his statement mostly unconvincing.

    She nodded and grabbed the black hooded cloak that’s been shrouding the rest of her body the whole time and ripped it off, throwing it to the ground in one swift motion. Sora had been a bit curious as to what she was wearing underneath the hood, considering her impressive aesthetic. Her outfit was both practical and somewhat plain, being black pants held up with a belt full of bullets and a black midriff. Plain, but still accentuated her curves very well. He felt impressed once again by her looks.

“Are you going to get going or just stand there and stare at me all day?” Maya let out an exasperated sigh as she began slowly walking down the hill.

Sora broke out of his trance as he followed close behind. “Ah! Wait!”

They walked around to the side of the building and found a ladder leading all the way to the roof.

“It’ll probably be easier to get in undetected if we use the roof. Though it’ll be impossible to completely avoid conflict,” she said as she grabbed on to the first rung and began to climb up. “I’ll make a lot of noise and you break in while they focus on me. Sound easy enough for you to handle?”

He began his climb as he replied. “Won’t it be a problem if we get separated? Don’t you think it would be better if we fought them together?”

Maya reached the top of the ladder and gracefully hopped onto the roof in one swift motion. “That would ruin the whole point. You’re here for your sister, aren’t you? Don’t lose focus, you fool. Just go with my original plan.”

He climbed up onto the roof and stood up straight, again mesmerized by her. She gave him an annoyed look as she calibrated her rifle.

“Would you kindly stop staring at me with that stupid expression? It’s making me quite uncomfortable.”

“H-Huh? Oh. Right. Sorry.”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “Are we ready then?”

Sora’s expression turned serious as he regained composure. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

She nodded and pointed her rifle straight up in the air, arching her back to an almost uncomfortable looking angle, and fired off two shots in close succession. After a few seconds, loud explosions rang out from right above where she fired, immediately setting off the blaring alarms Sora remembered all too well.

“Well, I guess that got their attention pretty quickly.”

Maya snapped her head around to look at him. “Go, now! I’ll cover you!”

He gave a slight smirk. “You got it.” He ran quickly past her towards an obvious hatch on the other side of the rooftop. Right before reaching it the hatch suddenly burst open, causing him to stop in his tracks. A single man in what appeared to be a metal suit of some sort rose up out of it, seemingly floating as he used rocket boosters on his feet to boost up out of the hatch and onto the roof. Sora instantly recognized him as Captain Koyama.

“Why hello there,” he said in a loud voice. “Didn’t think you were coming back. Thought you abandoned your poor sister here. I figured you would come back, but I honestly expected it sooner. What a pleasant surprise.” He gave a smug smile from the other side of the clear face mask in the metal helmet.

Sora took a defensive stance. “This is far from being pleasant.”

He frowned a bit. “Now that’s not very nice. We’re friends, aren’t we? Of course we are.” He laughed heartily as he looked back down at Sora then over to Maya. “Oh? Who’s this? Got some help did we?”

“That’s right. Did you think I’d be stupid enough to come back alone?”

Koyama shrugged nonchalantly. “Honestly, I probably did. No point in dwelling on that now, though. I’m just here to-,” he cut off mid sentence as he seemed to take a closer look at Maya. His eyes grew wide for a second in an expression of surprise, but soon returned to his regular air of threatening authority. “I had my doubts, but my god. It really is you. How are you, Reika? It’s been a while. About five years, if my memory is correct. Never thought you’d come around here again. How nice it is to see you. Still a troublemaker, I see.”

Maya narrowed her eyes as she pointed her rifle at him. “I am neither happy nor excited to be here again, especially since it involves seeing you. You’re face still disgusts me.”

“That’s so cold, Reika! How could you say such a thing? I was by far the nicest to you while you were here, right?”

She scoffed. “That’s bullshit. The entire thing was your fault to begin with. I can never forgive you for what you did to me.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Sora interjected. “You two know each other? Maya was here? What? Why? When?”

She yelled from behind him. “Irrelevant! That has nothing to do with this, so would you kindly go get your sister so we can get out of here!?”

“Now, now, Reika,” Koyama said as he wagged his finger, “why not give the poor boy some answers? He seems to be on your side, so there shouldn’t be an issue.”

All of a sudden, Maya became furious. “Stop calling me that! I gave up that name a long time ago! Just shut up!”

Sora was a bit taken aback by this, considering her usual calm and cool demeanor was replaced with what looked like seething rage. He could tell that she hated this man from the bottom of her heart, just by the look in her eyes. They were full of killing intent.

“Sora! Go! Now!” she yelled as she fired off a round straight at Koyama. The round hit him squarely in the chest, erupting into an explosion on impact. Sora dodged past the explosion and jumped down the open hatch into the prison facility. Questions would have to wait for later.

 

    Sora was greeted by a hail of gunfire the second he landed on the floor. He barely managed to make a shield for himself before they opened fire. He had landed right in the middle of a plain white hallway, the ones he remembered oh so very well from how much he despised them. Just looking at them brought back terrible memories from just a few days ago.

    The gunfire started coming from both sides of the hallway as he struggled to keep the shields up. It seemed like a continuous shield took a lot of energy to keep up. He started breathing heavily as he tried to figure out which way to go. All the walls looked the same, so all he could do was guess a direction and go with it.

    Right seems good. He slightly bent his elbows as he used all of his strength to forcibly push the purple walls he was using as shields on either side of him towards the guards shooting at him. They quickly accelerated on both sides and slammed into both groups of guards, crushing them against the walls. Sora could hear the crunch of their bones as he took off to the right, trying his best to ignore the blood splatter on the walls, and all the men he had just killed.

    He turned corner after corner trying to find his way around the building, but kept seeing nothing but white walls and metal doors. The doors had nothing but tiny little slits for windows, making it impossible to see into a room unless you stopped and looked. He sighed as he stopped to look into each cell as he ran, trying to go as fast as possible while making sure he wouldn’t miss anything important. After going through three different hallways and rows of doors, he still couldn’t find Nanami.

    He cursed under his breath as he continued into the fourth corridor. He started looking through the doors when a strange thought occurred to him. Where were the guards? The ones he fought couldn’t possibly have been all of them, and he’d been running for a while now. He hadn’t been attacked since his initial entry. This made him feel uneasy, but he continued on anyway, knowing that he still had to get his sister out. The alarm kept blaring without any signs of stopping, and his head was seriously starting to hurt. He went through the fourth and fifth hallways without finding his sister, and upon reaching the sixth saw that it was a dead end, with a metal door on the far wall that was significantly bigger than the others. He checked all of the other doors before he finally ended up in front of the suspicious door.

    He approached it cautiously and noticed that there was no window or slit on it at all. It was simply a blank door. Confused, he opened it slowly and got ready for any retaliation from inside. But there was none. He swung the door completely open and peered inside, not being able to see much because there were no lights. He searched the side for a light switch and finally found one a few inches from the door. He flipped the switch and the light turned on, causing him to squint as his eyes adjusted back to being in the light.

    He scanned the room as his eyes finished becoming accustomed to the brightness of the lights and recognized almost immediately that it was a torture room or dungeon of some sort. There was an awful smell in the air, and he could see all sorts of blood covered tools and instruments ranging from drills to needles. He looked around some more while covering his nose until he saw some movement in the back right corner of the room. He saw a person lying limply there, smears of blood clearly visible on the wall behind them. They looked up and smiled weakly upon seeing Sora’s face. It was Nanami.

    “Jesus christ! Nanami!” He sprinted over to her and blew off the chains holding her hands together. He looked her over to assess her damage, but she wasn’t as bad as he would have thought. The blood on the wall behind her must of come from some of the other victims, along with the fairly large gash on her arm and leg. She had other minor scratches and bruises, but she was still alive. Sora let out a relieved sigh. “Thank god.”

    “I had a feeling… it was you…”, Nanami said weakly as Sora picked her up in his arms. She looked absolutely terrible, smeared with blood and battered all over. She winced slightly as Sora lifted her. “Once I heard the alarms… I had a feeling…”

    “Shh, it’s okay now. Save your energy for later. I’m getting you out of here.” He gave a quick smile and nod to Nanami as he raised a hand and blew a hole straight through the ceiling.

    He propelled himself through the hole, holding Nanami tightly so that he didn’t lose her.

He landed on the roof and looked over to where he had last seen Maya and Koyama. He saw Maya getting up off of the ground as if she had just been knocked over, and he could see the scratches on her face. Captain Koyama was saying something, but Sora couldn’t really make it out. He ran carefully over to Maya, still holding onto Nanami as Koyama continued his speech.

    “Sorry I took so long. You alright?”

    Maya wiped blood away from her lip. “Couldn’t be better. The bastard is tough in that fancy suit of his. It’s like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.”

    “Well it’s fine now, because I found Nanami. We can get out of here.”

“Well now,” Captain Koyama interrupted as he started walking towards them, “isn’t this a surprise? Seems you found what you came here for. Guess those initial guards didn’t get ya, eh?” He laughed as he stopped just a few feet in front of them. “But that’s what I’m here for, anyway. After all, this suit is just a prototype I’m testing. I can assure you, though, that I won’t let any of you get away.”

Sora looked at Koyama coldly. “I won’t let you hurt my sister anymore, you asshole.”

Koyama made a pained expression. “Such language. You don’t need to be so mean. I’m just doing my job.” He clenched his fists. “If you won’t just surrender, however, then I’ll have to exterminate you. Pity, since you both would have been valuable assets in the war.”

He shrugged and launched toward them, knocking Sora off his feet as Nanami went flying out of his arms. Koyama punched Maya out of the way as he grabbed Nanami out of the air and landed on the other side on the roof. He turned around and faced them as Sora got up off the ground.

Koyama pinned Nanami to the ground with his foot as he smirked. “You’re sister really is a cute little thing. It’s a shame she had to be involved in this.”

“Let her go!” Sora screamed as he shot a magic blast straight at him. He easily deflected it with his left forearm and his expression became serious.

“S-Sora…” He could hear Nanami as she attempted to crawl away from her captor, only to be stomped hard on the back into the ground. “Ack!”

“You stay still. I haven’t finished yet.” Koyama’s left wrist opened and several barrels popped out of the opening. Sora’s eyes widened as he pointed it at Nanami.

“Don’t you dare!” He yelled as he charged towards Koyama, readying another blast.

Koyama didn’t flinch at all, only raising his other arm and unsheathing a blade that was hidden in the wrist. Sora ducked below his arm and tried to hit him with an uppercut, but Koyama’s reflexes were too fast as he quickly moved his arm and stabbed Sora right in the left shoulder.

He pulled the blade out and used his free leg to kick Sora to the side as he screamed in pain. He impacted the ground hard a few feet away, grasping his shoulder as he quivered in agony. He continued making pained moans as he looked over at Maya, still just recovering from Koyama’s blow, then back to Koyama. He made a small chuckle, as if slightly amused, and turned his attention back towards Nanami. She was looking over at Sora with a worried expression. Koyama broke out into a demonic smile and whispered, “You should be more worried about yourself, little girl.”

Sora attempted to get up as he looked over mortified. “Stop!” He couldn’t stand. He was in too much pain.

Koyama raised his arm again and fired a single shot right into Nanami’s back, causing her to scream as she jolted up for a second. “Gah! AUUUGH!” She screamed in horror as he fired a second shot. Sora barely managed to stand before he heard a third and fourth shot go off, and then there was silence. He could no longer hear his sister’s voice.

“You… you didn’t…” Sora collapsed to his knees as he looked over his sister’s lifeless body. In the moonlight, he could see the four gunshot wounds on her back and the blood all over the floor. Tears started forming at the corner of his eyes. “No… why?” His head turned fuzzy as he continued to stare at the grizzly scene.

Koyama turned toward him and raised his arm. He gave another demonic smile as a bright explosion knocked him off his feet. He went flying over the edge of the building as Maya came running to Sora’s side. She picked him up and supported him as she ran to the opposite side of the roof and jumped down, going as fast as she could while lugging Sora into the nearby trees.

Sora’s face was sullen and emotionless, full of shock. He fell unconscious as they trudged through the woods, barely able to comprehend the situation before seeing nothing but black.


	6. The Resistance

    Sora opened his eyes slowly. It was relatively quiet, with nothing but the far off sound of cars rolling by and the occasional bird chirp or two. He stared straight up into the canopy of trees directly over his head. He tried to get up, but simply moving hurt so much he gave up after just a few tries. He was aching all over and had a splitting headache. It had been a while since he’d felt this terrible. After a second attempt to move himself, he actually managed to sit up and get a bearing on what just happened and where he was. He leaned his back against the large tree behind him and looked around sluggishly, scanning his surroundings. He was in a small clearing in the middle of a forest of some sort, and the city could be seen not too far away past the distant trees. He tried standing up but failed miserably as he fell back down with a thump and a whimper.

    “Guh, shit,” he said irritably as he laid his back against the tree once more. His eyes moved downwards from the scenery to his injuries, which seemed to have been bandaged rather skillfully for him. His shoulder was wrapped up nicely and there were smaller bandages for the smaller cuts and bruises he had suffered. He chuckled halfheartedly.

    “Oh, you’re awake?” asked a familiar voice as he looked back up from examining his bandages. Maya was sitting just a few feet away, fiddling around with her rifle and polishing it with her shirt. Sora blinked a couple of times in astonishment upon seeing her. He assumed she would have left or abandoned him by now.

    “You’re still here.” He said it as a statement rather than a question.

    “Indeed. Feeling alright?” She continued polishing her gun barrel as she spoke.

    “I’ve been better. Can’t exactly move at the moment.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Why are you still here?”

    “Why would I not be? And here I was, thinking you’d be happy to see me after getting so wounded.” She seemed to smirk a bit, as if she was somewhat amused by herself. She was taunting him.

    “Well, since I can assume it’s you who bandaged me up, I actually kind of am. I guess I was just a bit surprised.”

    “You thought I would leave?” She stopped polishing her gun and looked over at him. Her dark red eyes were intimidating, as always.

    “After how horribly that mission ended… yea, I did. Figured you would dump me somewhere and run.”

    “Just what kind of person do you think I am? I’ll admit I’m no saint, but I am a little offended you would think I’d leave a dying person by themselves and just let them to bleed to death in the middle of the woods. That hurts my self esteem a bit.” She made a mocked hurt expression and dramatically clutched her chest. He’d never seen her express so much emotion since he met her. He didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing that she was messing with him like this. It was certainly new, at least.

    Sora gave a small smile. “I should thank you, then. You really went above and beyond our agreement and helped me out a lot. Thanks.”

    Maya’s face grew slightly red as she turned away from him. “I-It was nothing, really. T-There’s nothing to thank me for.” Ah, he thought, seems she get easily embarrassed. Incredible. He stifled a laugh as she turned back towards him, eyeing him with obvious irritation.

    “Hey now, don’t look at me like that. It’s a pretty funny contrast to your personality.” He shrugged innocently, and winced in pain as he remembered how agonizing moving was at the moment.

    She sighed. “You seem to be able to crack stupid jokes, at least. Must not be in too bad of shape, psychologically anyway.” She eyed him up and down as she spoke, obviously not impressed by his physical state. He figured he probably looked like a mess.

    “Sorry to drag you with me only to fail miserably. It’s all my fault, because I was weak. I really am useless… especially as a brother.” His mood drastically changed as he looked down with regret. After the events of the previous night came back to him, he felt like crying uncontrollably. Not only was he unable to rescue his sister, but he got her killed in the process. He felt empty. Nothing but hate and sadness filled him now. He was on the verge of tears again when Maya decided to speak up.

    “I agreed to it, failure or not. I was fully prepared for this outcome. I wouldn’t have said yes if I wasn’t ready for it. As for you,” she said as she crawled over to his side on all fours and slapped him across the face, “you are sickening me with that self deprecating talk. I won’t deny that what happened was terrible, because obviously it was. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a sibling, but I do know what it’s like to lose somebody close to you. It’s not easy. I get it. However, there is no reason for you to beat yourself up about something you cannot change. If you blame yourself, then you’ll feel nothing but pity for yourself. You won’t accomplish anything if all you do is sulk and depress yourself. As hard as it is, you need to move on now. You don’t have to forget, but you do need to think clearly, something that would be impossible if you kept regretting your decision or your actions. Have you no courage?”

    Sora was surprised, if not by the sudden slap then by the lengthy speech she was giving him. It seemed he had completely misjudged Maya as being a laid back and unemotional person. She always thought logically and precisely, and didn’t let failure get in the way of living her life or reaching her goals. He didn’t know what she went through earlier in her life for her to feel so strongly about this, but she had definitely felt much loss before. He put his hand up to his face and winced. It stung.

    “Was that really necessary?” he asked, rubbing his face.

    “Yes. It snapped you out of it,” she replied as she sat down next to Sora and straightened her hair. “Now that you’re thinking realistically again, how about a plan? We need a next move, or we’ll be found eventually. Any ideas?”

    He pushed the thoughts of Nanami aside, trying his best to keep it out of his mind and focus on their current issue. “Not really. The only thing I can think of is trying to get help. If we seek out the rebels or something, maybe they can help us.”

    Maya seemed unhappy with this idea, as her distaste showed clearly on her face. “They may be against the government, but I doubt they would care about us. If anything, they’d probably try to kill us too.”

    “Eh, but aren’t they the good guys?”

    “There is no good or evil in this conflict, Sora. They both fight for their own causes, and neither of them are inherently bad. They both do terrible things though, do they not?”

    “Ah, right. The rebels attacked my school. That’s how I ended up imprisoned in the first place. You know, now that I think about it, that sounds like a terrible idea. Let’s not try to find them.” He attempted to stand for a third time, and for a third time failed as he let out a grunt of pain and landed back onto the ground. “Ugh.”

“Would you stop trying to move, already? Wait until you’ve gotten a little more rest. It’s not like those bandages instantly heal you or anything.”

He waved his hand halfheartedly. “Yea, yea. I’m just a bit eager to get out of here, is all.”

Maya leaned back and put her hands behind her head. “As am I, but we have no choice at the moment. Unless you want me to carry you.”

“I think I’ll pass. Thanks for the offer though.” She was obviously joking, but he felt he had to play along to cheer himself up. After everything that’s happened, he could really use a light atmosphere for once. It was hard to not think about Nanami, but Maya was right when she told him to focus. There would be time for grieving later.

“So if we’re not going to seek the rebels, then what shall we do?” Maya asked after a good minute of silence.

“Ah,” he said as he turned his head towards Maya with a serious expression, “I’m not sure. I mean, you did fulfill our deal, so there’s no reason for this to be our problem. I’m serious when I say you can leave. You’ve done your part.” He felt a bit saddened by the prospect of her leaving, but he really didn’t think she needed to stay. All he wanted was help for the breakout, and now that it was over she technically had no obligation to continue working with him. He did like having someone around to talk to, but he didn’t want to hold her back.

“It’s not a big deal, Sora. I think it would be more beneficial to stick together because of our similar situations. It would be easier than working alone, would it not?”

“I… guess you have a point. I just want to make sure you’re not feeling forced.”

“Of course not. If I want to leave, I’ll say so. No need to trouble yourself over such trivial things.”

“Heh, you’re nicer than I’d thought you’d be. Surprisingly comforting, too.”

He witnessed her face go red once again at the complement. “I never thought myself to be. I’ve always been alone, so I guess I wouldn’t know.” It was somewhat amusing seeing how bad she was at accepting praise. Sora chuckled. “W-What?” She whipped her head around in annoyance, glaring at him.

“Ehe, nothing. I guess you could say you’ve managed to cheer me up some.”

The way she looked at him suggested displeasure, but he thought he could see the hint of a small smile forming on her lips. Although she had smirked in the past, mostly at her own dumb jokes, he’d never seen her genuinely smile. He became very curious about that as the thought passed him. He bet it was a nice smile.

Something rustled in the bushes to the left that caught both of their attention. Maya immediately bolted for her rifle, reaching it at lightning fast speed and pointing it directly at the source of the sound. Sora directed his gaze over towards the bushes, where a figure walked out and greeted them with a friendly wave. It was Jay.

“Well, would you look at what I found in the woods. I see you made contact and everything. Gotta admit, you seem to be in rough shape since I last saw you,” he said laughing as he adjusted his large hat. Sora was surprised to see him, especially out in the woods.

“Yea… long time no see,” he said as he waved back at Jay the best he could without hurting himself.

Maya lowered her rifle and walked slowly up to Jay. “So, do you make a habit out of wandering through forests?”

Jay cracked a big smile and placed his hand on Maya’s head. Sora was positive that he would have gotten slapped if he had tried anything like that, but she didn’t protest. She just continued looking up at him as he pet her head. She almost seemed content, actually.

“You got me there. No, I was just doing a bit of scouting and hunting, since I have so much spare time. Never would have thought I’d run into you two, of all people.” He finished patting Maya’s head and lowered his arm, adjusting the large crossbow on his back as he did so. After seeing that, of course Sora was curious.

“Okay so, what exactly is your relationship with each other? I sure as hell hope you ain’t dating, because I would have some things to say to you both if that’s the case.”

Jay looked over at him, still smiling his big, happy smile. He seemed unfazed by Sora’s little joke, and he put his hand on Maya’s shoulder and cleared his throat. “I suppose you could call me a makeshift parent of some sort. Well, it’s like having a daughter at least. I was a friend of her father’s, so I helped her out after he died and she escaped the holding facility. We’ve been through some rough times together, me and her.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed her against him.

Sora nodded. “I see. So basically a father and daughter relationship, then. How sweet. I guess you could count me a little jealous now.” He successfully managed to stand up on his fourth attempt, and he leaned against the tree as he tried his best to give a genuine smile. It still came off a bit forced.

Maya shooed Jay’s arm away as she jogged over to Sora’s side. “You really shouldn’t be standing. You’ll hurt yourself.” She supported him by putting his arm around her shoulder and lowering her head slightly.

“Heh, thanks. I think we should get moving, though. If not to find the rebels, then to find a way out of the city.”

Jay walked over to them. “Well, that shouldn’t be too hard. We’re in the outskirts right now, and just going a bit that way,” he pointed in the direction opposite to the city, “will get you outside the city limits. I imagine you’re probably being searched for by now, so it would be wise to hurry.”

Sora looked over in the direction he pointed to. “Probably.”

Jay grabbed his crossbow from his back and lifted it. “Wait.” He turned around and saw a man in a rebel soldier uniform standing right behind him, with his gun pointed right at him.

“Hands up,” the soldier said as about ten or fifteen more rebels appeared and surrounded them. Jay raised his arms into the air and dropped the crossbow, and Maya stopped reaching for her rifle while still trying to support Sora. “Looks like we found something interesting.” The soldier smirked and motioned for them to start following as the rest of the soldiers fell in behind them.

Maya lugged Sora along as she continued to eye her rifle, which was currently in the possession of one of the soldiers. They walked a good thirty minutes before entering an abandoned looking warehouse lot that had at least ten or so buildings scattered around it. It seemed more like a run down military base with all the weapons and equipment scattered around, along with all the people there.

“Well this is… unfortunate,” Maya said as they continued their walk. Jay looked back at them for a moment and seemed to give them a small nod and a shrug before turning forward again. Sora sighed and said nothing. She pretty much wrapped up the situation with that one sentence. Now all they could do was wait to see where they would end up. All they could hope was not dead. Anything was better than dead.

They continued walking through the camp until they reached a large hangar full of tanks. Engineers busily chatted amongst themselves as they adjusted their hats and pointed at blueprints. On the other side of the entrance a group of soldier could be seen conversing with a man in a slightly different uniform. It had a darker red than the other uniforms, and seemed to have more intricate designs as well. The man turned to face them as they entered the hangar, with a large smirk spreading across his face as he did so. Sora recognized him immediately by his face and messy black hair. He was the man he had seen when his school was attacked, the one from the tank. He all of a sudden got more nervous as they approached.

“Welcome,” the man said with a sweeping bow, “to Opium’s base of operations.” He straightened himself and looked directly at Sora. “It’s nice to see you again, my supernatural friend. We may have got off on the wrong foot, but I feel we’ll be able to understand each other very soon.”

“Would you wipe that damn smirk off your face? It pisses me off,” Sora spat back.

“Heh, what a rude child.” He shrugged and turned his attention to Maya. “Oh my, hello there dear. I don’t believe we’ve met, though I must say you are particularly nice on the eyes. It’s unfortunate you’re probably a bit too young for me. That’s alright, I’ll just enjoy the view.” He laughed, as if amusing himself.

Jay walked in between them, somewhat nonchalantly, and obstructed his view of Maya. “Now now, why don’t we skip the pleasantries and go to the part where you tell us why we’re here. Do you need something, scumbag?” He gave the man a death glare and waited for him to answer.

“Hoh, terrifying. I meant no offense, I can assure you sir. Well, before we get to reasons allow me to properly introduce myself.” The man took another sweeping bow. “I am known as Kenzo, and it is a pleasure to meet you all. I am the leader and tactician of Opium, a group created to overthrow the corrupt system that runs this city and rebuild it for the people. May I ask for your names, as well?”

“Name’s Jay. I would prefer if you keep your hands and your eyes to yourself. I don’t want to have to gouge them out.”

Kenzo shivered in an exaggerated fashion. “Truly mortifying. I do hope we’ll be able to get along better than that. And what about you, boy?” he asked, walking over to Sora and bending over slightly.

Sora glared at him. “Sora Koyanagi, though I don’t like my last name, so call me Sora.”

“I see. It’s nice to see you again. We may have a use for you later.” He slid over and was now face to face with Maya. “And you?”

“Rei-,” she cleared her throat, cutting herself off. “Maya. I go by Maya.”

Kenzo smiled. “A wonderful name, yes and and very befitting! It is nice to meet you all, and I do hope you’ll enjoy your stay with us. Though, I do have one question.” He came back over to Sora. “You said your last name was Koyanagi, correct?”

“Y-Yeah.” He nodded nervously.

“Intriguing. Now I definitely know I’ve heard that name before.” Kenzo swiftly turned and walked over to the group of soldiers he had been previously speaking to. He told them something, they were slightly too far away for Sora to hear, and one of the soldiers seemed shocked. They looked over at them, and upon meeting eyes with Sora, immediately took off towards him at high speed. The soldier hugged Sora upon reaching him, their hat flying off of their head as they did so.

“It’s true! It really is you!” they shouted happily. Sora was confused until the soldier stopped hugging him and their face was revealed. His eyes widened as he saw their long, brown hair and recognizable facial features. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Mom?!”


	7. Shattered Family

    Sora stood there in shock as his mother’s smiling face stared back at him. She seemed relieved and overwhelmed with joy over seeing him again. He was happy too, of course, but had somewhat mixed feelings about meeting her here of all places. Maya, who was still supporting his right side, gave him a confused look.

    “Your mother?” She seemed just as confused as him.

    “Y-Yeah,” he nodded and continued to look her over in amazement. He still couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

    Kenzo clapped his hands loudly and chuckled a bit. “Okay, okay! Why don’t we let these two catch up? You, er, Maya was it? You and your grumpy uncle shall come with me and I’ll give you the grand tour! It is a lovely camp, I’m sure you’ll enjoy your time looking it over. Don’t want to interrupt such a touching family reunion, do we? Of course not. Come along now.”

    Jay was less than pleased as he led them away from Sora and his mother. “Who are you calling grumpy, you frizzy-haired fascist?!”

    He put on a lousy smile and continued to lead them away. “Ehe, no need for the harsh language, just come along now. Come along now…” He continued to repeat the same words until the three were out of earshot. Maya glanced back with a slightly worried expression, but continued following Jay and Kenzo as they went to the other side of the hangar. Sora sighed and stumbled a bit, realizing that his support was gone and standing was still very difficult. He staggered backwards a few inches until his mother caught him and supported him instead.

    “Are you alright?” she asked, worried about his unsteadiness.

    “I’ve been better, but at least I’m not dead.” He cracked a mostly fake smile as his mother sat him down on a nearby crate and took a seat right next to him.

    “Maybe, but you’re in horrid condition! What happened?”

    Thoughts of Nanami crept into his mind again as he looked down. “Oh, a lot of things.”

    “Tell me. Please?” She put her hands on his.

    “Okay, but first, I need to know. The hell are you doing here mom? I thought you were on a business trip.” He looked back up.

    “Ah, yes, well,” she scratched her head awkwardly and looked away for a moment, as if embarrassed, “the day I came back was the day your school was attacked. You were missing so I decided to contact the rebels for help. The leader guy… Kenzo, said he had seen you, so I decided to stay with them for a bit. It turns out they’re fighting for a good cause, too.”

    “You do realize that these are the people that attacked my school, right?”

    She winced as he said it, and her expression became sad. “I am as disgusted as you about their digs for media attention, even going so low as to attack a local school just for publicity. It was terrible, for sure, but they did it because they weren’t getting enough backing for their cause. They had to think of a dramatic way to get people’s attention, and I’d say they pulled that off very well. It’s awful, but what can I do? I think their methods are wrong, but their reasons are understandable. Don’t you feel the government is too powerful and oppressive?”

    “Can’t say I feel strongly about it either way. The methods are definitely wrong here, though.”

    “Yes, I know. I understand, Sora. I really do! Rebellion against the government comes at a high cost, and there’s nothing we can do to prevent it by ourselves. Honestly, I’m just so glad to see you again. After you went missing I feared the worst, so seeing you alive and well is so much of a relief. Where is your sister, though? I heard you had her with you when Kenzo saw you.”

    There it is. The one question Sora definitely didn’t want to come up. He felt his chest tighten as he caught his breath and braced himself. He had to tell her. He had to tell his mother that her daughter was dead. He struggled to find the right words, continuously opening and closing his mouth wearing a pained expression. He had just realized how relatively calm he had been about Nanami since last night, and knew that it wasn’t long before he broke down. It was impossible to push it aside forever, and with that thought he looked down at his hands and spoke. His words were shaky, and he tried his best to hold in the tears that were welling in his eyes.

    “Nanami… well…,” he said nervously, using all of his willpower to control his emotions. Tears started dropping one at a time from his eyes as he continued. “W-We were taken in b-by the government, and t-they held us prisoner for d-days. I managed to escape, b-but had to go back for Nanami. So I decided to find help and go back for her, and I did just that. After breaking back in and finding her, we almost got out but…” He paused, swallowing hard as the tears started coming out in streams. “Koyama killed her! He shot her, and he killed her! Four times, he did it four times! I was useless! I did nothing! All I could do was sit and watch as my own sister was murdered in front of me! Why? Why?! God dammit!” He couldn’t hold it in anymore as he completely lost it, finally breaking down after managing to maintain his composure for so long. He began to bawl as his mother, showing signs of complete shock, hugged him tightly.

    “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Sora. Nanami…,” his mother said as she stroked his head slowly. After a few seconds, she too began to cry. While holding her son in her arms, they cried together until their tears ran out.

 

    “It’s not your fault. None of it was your fault.” Sora looked up at his mother as she finished drying her eyes and she smiled reassuringly at him. “I know you feel responsible, but you shouldn’t blame yourself. You should never blame yourself.”

    He frowned a bit as he wiped his face. Maya had told him something similar not too long ago, back in the woods. At least he didn’t get slapped this time. “I keep telling myself that. It’s all I can do to make myself feel better, though it doesn’t really help.” Besides, it’s not not like he really believed it anyway. He knew the entire thing happened because of him. Because of his powers.

    “I know it’s painful, but we’ll have to endure,” she said, patting him on the back a few times. “But the real question is why would the government hold you hostage?”

    “Oh, er…” He didn’t even know how to begin to explain. As far as he knew, his mother was unaware of his abilities, so he had not idea how to tell her. He scratched his head nervously as he lowered his eyes. There was nothing coming to him, no ideal way to explain it, so all he could do was wing it. He cleared his throat and wiped a stray tear from his eye. “Because they wanted to use me.”

    “Use you? For what?”

    “For… fighting. You see, it’s these weird magical abilities that I have. They saw me use them during the school attack and seemed to take a special interest. Of course I said something like, ‘that was ridiculous.’ I mean, I’m seventeen. I can’t fight a war. It was a ludicrous plan, it really was.” He looked up to see her reaction, but her face was just blank and expressionless. She didn’t seem to fully absorb what he just told her.

    “A-Abilities? Nonsense, dear. Is such a thing even poss-”

    “It is, because I have them. I would show you, but currently moving isn’t exactly something I’m capable of. Well, not well at least. It’s not like they’d have any other reason to keep me and Nanami hostage.” His chest ached at the mention of his sister’s name. It seemed to happen every time. His stomach feels empty and his chest hurts immensely. He figured it would be a very long time before he got over it, or at least able to accept it.

    “But how could I not have known about such things? I’m your mother after all. There’s no way I-”

    “It. Is. The. Truth.” He stated irritably, clearly pronouncing each word like its own sentence. “I have no reason to lie.”

    His mother frowned and slumped her shoulders. She appeared to be contemplating something. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Kenzo reappeared with Jay and Maya trailing behind, looking mostly bored and indifferent. Sora guessed the tour was unexciting, at best.

    “So sorry to cut in, but I do believe I should be showing our guests to their temporary quarters. You’ll be able to chat more later. Come along now, Mr. Koyanagi.” He gestured for them to follow him and took off walking in the opposite direction of the hangar, towards a large cluster of green tents. Sora sighed as he unsteadily got to his feet and winced at the pain of his shoulder wound. He would have fallen over if Maya hadn’t been there to retake her position to support him on his right side.

    Kenzo swung his body around and looked back at them. “Hm, perhaps we should get you looked at in the infirmary first? No, I’ll show you your tent and send someone to you. That will be easiest.” Without another word he spun himself around again and continued his walk. Maya and Sora followed, with Jay trailing behind them.

    “So,” she said after his mother was out of earshot, “how did your talk go? I see you let a few emotions out. I assume the topic of your sister came up.” She looked at him with a tinge of worry in her eyes.

    “Heh, you could tell? Yeah, I had to tell her the truth about everything. I suppose we got a little emotional when I gave her the news. I feel a bit better now, though.”

    “Well, being able to get it out does help. As long as you're not breaking down every five seconds, you should be fine. Just don’t push yourself too hard, or your injuries will get worse.”

    Sora felt a smile creeping up on his face. Somehow, it made him genuinely happy that she cared about his health. Considering how their first meeting involved a knife at his throat, he kept being surprised by her kindness and apparent caring nature. He guessed he was happy that they were able to become friends, even during their short amount of time together. Since he had never had any close friends before, it was a great feeling.

    They reached the cluster of tents and Kenzo showed them into a small one on the edge of the camp. He turned to them and creepily smiled. “I do apologize, but this is the only one I can offer you three. Please rest for now. We’ll be talking more later. I’ll send medical staff at my earliest convenience. Enjoy your stay.” He bowed and walked away as the three entered the tent.

    “What an unpleasant guy. No way in hell am I gonna stay here,” Jay grumbled as he sat in the corner of the tent. “Plus this place is tiny. How does he expect three people to stay in here?” He sighed and crossed his arms in thought.

    “Yeah, well, I don’t really want to stay here either,” Sora responded as Maya sat him down on the floor opposite to Jay. “Erk.” He made a pained grunt as he landed on the ground awkwardly. Maya took his arm off her shoulder and rested him against the side of the tent.

    “Indeed. We should probably think of a way out of here as fast as possible. I have a feeling it will be bad if we stay here too long.” Maya put her hand on Sora’s head to check his temperature and then, seemingly relieved that it wasn’t abnormally hot, placed herself beside him.

    Jay nodded in agreement. “Any ideas?”

    Maya shook her head. “Not one. Sorry.”

    Sora stretched his right arm and made more slightly pained noises as he adjusted his position. “How about this. Once I can move again, I say we just make a break for it. There’s no way to stealthily get out of here. Well, not unless there’s some massive distraction.”

    A soldier opened the flaps to the tent and came in with a first aid kit of some sort. He kneeled down next to Sora and started inspecting his wounds without a word. Sora avoided eye contact as the soldier replaced his bandages and rubbed some sort of disinfectant on his cuts. He twitched a bit as the liquid stung his injuries, but he didn’t complain and no one said a word until the soldier packed the first aid kit back up and left the tent as quietly as he had come. Sora could hear Jay release his breath, as if he had been holding it the whole time.

    “Damn, that was close. Almost blew the whole thing.”

    Sora shrugged nonchalantly. “Eh, they probably expect something like that from us anyway. We’re not exactly here because we want to be.”

    “Maybe, but would they really expect us to do something so dramatic? I doubt they’d see an immediate escape coming. Perhaps we actually have a window of opportunity to get out of here when they least expect it.” Maya leaned back and looked at the other two for approval or reactions. They both just nodded and went into deep thought about something. She sighed and waited for one of them to respond, but after five minutes neither of them made a sound. She gave them an annoyed look. “Hello?”

    Jay looked over at the sound of her voice. “Hm…? Oh, I think it’s a good observation. I was just thinking of a plan, is all. Hehe sorry about that.” He scratched his head and laughed. “Can’t really come up with anything better, though.”

    She sighed again, “Then just say something. I don’t like awkward silences.” Her face got slightly red. Sora chuckled. _She gets embarrassed too easily._

    Jay grinned wryly. “Of course, of course. How could I forget?” He put his hands on his knees and stood up. “Well then, shall we make a ruckus?” He stretched his arms and looked down at them. Sora adjusted his arms one at a time and managed to stand up with a slight wince.

    “Agh, a bit early on that one but I suppose the sooner the better. I think I can move well enough.” He rolled his shoulder a bit and looked over to Maya. “Shall we?”

    She sighed and stood up next to Sora. “That’s all well and good, but what are we going to do exactly?”

    “Why, grab our weapons and run of course!” Jay said, as if it should have been obvious.

    Sora shrugged. “Works well enough. Know where they’re keeping them?”

    “Hm… I guess we’ll have to split up and search. Hopefully they’ll let us walk around camp a bit by ourselves.”

    “Well, just in case I think we should at least try to be sneaky. This’ll be easier if we’re not caught.”

    “Right you are, my boy! Okay, let’s get going!”

    Jay briskly turned, crouched low to the ground, and slowly walked out of the tent. Sora and Maya exchanged glances and quietly followed after him.

 

    The three split off from each other and began stealthily searching around the main camp area. There were plenty of people milling about, so they went from cover to cover trying to avoid being seen by most, if not all, of the soldiers. Sora kept low behind large stacks of boxes as he skimmed the outskirts of the tents and made his way towards the hangars on the other side of the compound. It was obviously risky, considering there was much more activity on that side of the base, but that’s exactly why he went that direction. There was a higher chance of their weapons being more heavily guarded because of the danger they posed. That was his theory, anyway.

    He snuck silently around the side and peeked into the closest hangar, and saw nothing but a few tanks and groups of soldiers chatting. He scanned the room twice to make sure, but the weapons didn’t appear to be there. He moved around the back of the hangar and slunk over to the next one over. No luck there, either. After moving over to the third one, he recognized it as the one they entered when they first arrived at the compound. He slowly crept in, careful to hide himself, and finally saw Maya’s rifle and Jay’s crossbow sitting on a crate near the back door he had come through. He cautiously looked around and, feeling content that no one was watching him, grabbed them and flew out the door as quickly as he could.

    After making it outside he took his original path to the front opening of the first hangar and began his long, stealthy trek back while lugging the heavy metal objects. The crossbow was unnaturally large and seemed very inconvenient for its purpose of hunting or whatever the hell Jay was using it for. Maya’s rifle, while not as bulky, was far heavier than it looked. Sora practically had to drag the thing it was weighing him down so much. How did she even manage to hold this thing up, let alone fire it? He’d have to ask her when they met up again.

    As he got within about a hundred feet of the tent area again, Sora heard a loud screech that grew progressively in volume until it passed right overhead, and a large explosion went off at the other end of the courtyard. The ground shook as a loud, booming noise rang through the whole compound. Sora got knocked over as more screeching and explosions could be heard. He brought himself back up to one knee as he peered up at the sky. He saw the shadows of flying objects above him, and next silver bodies whizzing by at fantastic speed. More screeches, more explosions. Bombers.

    Sora scrambled to his feet and struggled to pick the weapons back up as the explosions continued. The bombers kept cascading past the base in waves as helicopters could also be heard in the distance, very faintly over the immense racket of the bombs. Gunfire began to ring out as he saw the soldiers scrambling and arming themselves. He broke into a sprint as an explosion went off just fifty feet away, and searched frantically for any sign of Maya or Jay.

    His eyes darted back and forth as he continued his run as fast as he could possibly go. The heavy weapons were slowing him down, and he had no idea where the other two were. He grew more and more desperate as tents started exploding and burning, and people’s screams could be heard over the commotion. Just as he was about to yelling at the top of his lungs to try and find them, Maya conveniently appeared running towards him from the opposite direction. Sora sighed with relief as he sped up to meet her halfway

    She immediately snatched the rifle from his hands and loaded it in one fluid motion. “Great, you found them,” she yelled over the battle noise as she raised the rifle in the air and fired a single shot up into the air. “We need to get out of here! This is our chance!”

    Sora nodded, “You’re right. Where’s Jay?”

    She shook her head and fired another round. “We should just leave without him, he can take care of himself.”

    “What about the crossbow?”

    “Just bring it with you. We don’t really have time to be discussing this.” She continued to to fire as she motioned for Sora to start running towards the treeline. “Let’s get a move on!”

    He gritted his teeth for a few seconds, then obeyed Maya’s orders and began his retreat towards the forest. She followed slowly behind him, walking backwards and simultaneously covering their escaped by returning whatever fire was aimed at them. After firing three last sequential shots, she turned and ran after Sora into the trees.

    “Wait!” a voice called out as they reached the border of the forest. They both turned their heads in the direction of the voice to find Sora’s mother standing not too far away with a rifle in hand. She wasn’t pointing it at them, but she had her finger on the trigger.

    “Mom…” Sora started as he took a few steps forward.

    “W-Where are you going?” Her voice was shaky and she seemed incredibly nervous in the current situation.

    “Come on, I think you know exactly-”

    “Why are you leaving?! Do you think I want to lose another child? Why are you running away from us?” She put on a pained expression as her rifle twitched in her hands.

    “I know it’s hard mom, but,” an explosion went off close by to their right, “we can’t stay with the rebels. We just don’t see eye to eye here.”

    “But if you’re with us, you could at least be safe from capture or torture. We could take care of you until this conflict dies down, and we could live peacefully together again. As a family.”

    Maya began firing again as Sora responded. “We’re as much prisoners with you as we are with the government. As much as I hate to admit it… we’re not on the same side this time.” He gave her a sad smile as he turned and ran into the trees, followed closely by Maya who fired one last shot before glancing back at his mother momentarily and then taking off full speed after him. She just stood there and shrank into the distance until she was completely out of view of Maya and Sora.

The loud noises of battle could still be heard, but they grew more distant as they continued through the woods. Maya took the lead as Sora started falling behind, mostly due to his injuries and likely less fit muscles, but they didn’t stop until they could hear nothing but the chirping of birds and the sound of passing cars on the roads in the city.


	8. No Way Out

“So…”

“So?”

Sora scratched his head and adjusted his position slightly, trying to make the best of his highly uncomfortable situation. His shoulder was throbbing and in immense pain, and he had a hard time finding a desirable sitting position in the narrow alleyway him and Maya had ended up in as a hiding place. She was sitting just a couple feet away, up against the opposite wall, and seemed perfectly fine. He grunted as he adjusted again.

“Couldn’t we have chosen something, I don’t know… more comfortable?”

Maya looked over, a look of exhaustion prevalent in her expression. “I do apologize, but even I get tired. I just needed a bit of a rest. Besides, this location is ideal to hide in for the time being due to its secluded nature. It may be a little suffocating, but it’ll do for now.”

“Man, you sure think of everything.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you know. You seem to think things through a lot more than I do most of the time. You seem to be a good strategist. Wish I could have that kind of confidence.”

“You came up with most of the plan for the rescue mission, did you not?”

“Yeah, and look how great that turned out.” Sora’s expression turned grim and his head tilted downwards, casting darkness over his eyes. “I really can’t compare.”

“Come on, I told you not to beat yourself up about tha-”

“Then what do you want me to do?! Huh?! Just forget about it? Just don’t even care about the fact that my sister is dead, my mother is a rebel, and Jay is missing?! You really expect me to forgive myself for ANYTHING? Nothing has gone right since my school got attacked. NOTHING! I’ve tried to set things right, I tried to be the good guy. I tried to be on the good side. But guess what? There is no good side! The government’s corrupt and the rebels are anarchists! The outcome is going to be shit no matter who wins this ridiculous conflict! The worst part? It’s taken everything I knew and loved and cared about and just burned it. Threw it out the window and stomped it into dust! I can’t take this anymore! What are WE supposed to be doing? Are we supposed to fight? Are we supposed to run? Who’s side are we supposed to be on? Does it even matter?!”

Maya was surprised by his sudden outburst, and she attempted to calm him down, to no avail. “Sora, wai-”

“Of course it doesn’t! We’re just a couple of stupid kids stuck in the middle of a war where both sides are evil and want to kill us! There is absolutely nothing good about the situation we’re in! At this point, we’re either going to die or live in exile for the rest of our lives. It’s not like we can win this war by ourselves. Honestly, after everything that’s happened, I think I have the goddamn right to be a little upset or cry my eyes out! After all, that’s all I can do.”

He fell quiet, stifling his tirade and simply making a few pained moans. He turned his back to Maya and said nothing more. Maya frowned and looked slightly hurt. She stared at his back in thought, trying to think of the right words to say. The silence continued for an agonizingly long time until Maya finally managed to break it.

“I never said you couldn’t be upset. I understand how you’re feeling. It hurts, I know. Your life just crumbled around you in what seemed like an instant, and now you don’t know what to do. You lose all sense of purpose, all sense of reason. You start to wonder why you even exist anymore. If you exist for the sole purpose of suffering, then why exist at all? Is this all there is to your life? Why go on living? Life seems pointless, doesn’t it? When I was in a similar position, I certainly thought those things. I can sympathize, but I cannot console you. I am not good at those sorts of things. But I can tell you one thing, so listen carefully.” She turned her entire body, fully facing Sora. He flipped himself back over and returned her glare, listening intently. “You deserve to live. Your life is worth it. Also, remember, you’re not alone.” His eyes grew wider as she flashed him, for the first time since they’d met, a genuine smile. It was small, but it was real.

Sora was taken aback. After doing nothing but yell at her and complain about his circumstances, she still tried to cheer him up. It didn’t matter how far down his mood went, because she always managed to bring him back up. Not only was she an extremely comforting presence, especially in times of weakness, but her smile was the most reassuring thing he’d ever seen. The small, serene, yet sad smile tugged at his heart a little. He didn’t even know what she had to go through to be able to sympathize to something like this, but it was probably worse. Far, far worse. He wanted to kick himself for snapping at her like that. It’s not like it was her fault.

“I…” he started, “I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about you, and all I do is make you feel terrible about everything. You’ve gone far and beyond my expectations, and I’ve treated you awfully. I have no excuses really. I just want you to know that I really do appreciate all you’ve done, despite how I may act. I don’t even know how you’ve managed to stick with me this long. You impress me in more ways than one.”

“Is it really that impressive?”

“It really is, in a way.”

“Oh? Why the high praise all of a sudden?”

“Because I felt bad.”

“Think I felt underappreciated?”

“I had a feeling.”

“I see.”

“I don’t know if I should ask this but… what happened to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, like, with Koyama. You knew him, had a past with him. W-What happened, exactly?”

Maya closed her eyes and nodded a few times, contemplating something. Her brow furrowed for a few seconds before she opened her eyes again. “I suppose I should have expected this eventually. It’s only fair, right? You’ve opened up so much to me, so I should do the same.” She took a deep breath.

“A-Are you sure? I mean, you don’t have to if it’s too-”

“It’s fine, Sora. It’s fine. I was probably going to tell you eventually anyway. If it hadn’t come up here, it would have at a later time.”

“I… I guess.”

“You probably know a few basics by now of my situation. You know that I grew up with my father and was in that facility at one point, correct?”

“Well, I do know you had a father whom you speak fondly of. There was also definitely some history with you and Koyama. He even called you a different name. What was it? Raka…?”

“Reika. That is what I used to be called. Reika. That was the name my father gave me and the one I used right up until he died. After that, I changed my name and went into hiding, hoping to just disappear and go unnoticed. Lasted a good five years, that plan.” Her face was sullen, but Sora couldn’t tell if she was sad or angry.

“Okay so, you changed your name so you could hide?”

“Yes. It also lost its meaning to me after hearing that man… Koyama, say it to me. He always scowled when he said it, always did something horrible as he said it. He never cared, and now the name is more of a dark reminder than the fond memory of my father it should be.”

“Whoa whoa, wait a minute. You seem to be jumping ahead a bit.”

Maya sighed. “You’re right, I should elaborate a bit more. The man who I called my father was not actually related to me in any way, but I always thought of him as such because he raised me. He would always tell me the story of how he found me as a baby, just thrown away on the street in a gutter. He found me, and named me, and decided he wanted to raise me as his own. Apparently he never knew who my real parents were nor how I got to where he found me. That is a mystery I don’t think I’ll ever solve.

“But anyway, he wanted to raise me even though he wasn’t exactly well off. He worked in a small mechanical workshop that he owned and made a living making and selling new and interesting things he invented. He loved inventing things. He may have lived in the slums, but he was incredible at what he did. His engineering prowess was second to none, and he was always showing me new and exciting things. As I grew up, he taught me everything I needed to know about building and engineering. Even after he found out about my abilities, he continued to raise me just as he did before. Nothing changed between us. I was always grateful for that.

“After figuring out certain aspects of what I could do, he figured that I could use it to defend myself when I needed to. All I needed was a convenient and worthy device that acted as a catalyst for my powers. Thus, he set to work and created this rifle, the one I’ve carried with me all this time. He created it himself and made sure it was of the finest quality he had ever produced. He was confident in my reasons for needing such a weapon, especially after the tension with the rebels continued to escalate. It was when I was eleven years old that the government arrested me and my father, on charges of conspiracy. I tried to resist, but of course the use of my powers just made things worse for me. They took a special interest in me and locked me up in a cell while they tortured my father for information. I was still relatively unstable at the time, so I could not control my power very well when I was in holding. I had no way to save my father from his suffering.”

Her voice became shaky as she finished her sentence and attempted to collect herself. It was easy to tell she was trying to hold back tears as she recalled this event, but one or two leaked out as she wiped her face with the back of her hand. She continued after a few more minutes of calming herself down.

“I do apologize, that was quite abrupt. I stopped in the middle.”

Sora scratched his head and said, “It’s fine, really. I told you it was okay to not talk about it. It seems to cause you a lot of stress. Are you sure you’re alright?”

She waved her hand halfheartedly, trying to alleviate his worries. “Yes, I’m fine. I had just forgotten how terrible some of the memories were. I’ve come this far, so I will finish my story.”

“If you say so. Feel free to stop any time if you need to.”

“Right. Well, several months passed by in the isolation cell. My father was continuously tortured until he finally died at the hands of Koyama. That was six months after we had been arrested. Of course, once I found out about it, I was a wreck. I lost the will to live and simply wished, every day, that I would just hurry up and die. That way I could join my father and leave that rotten place. I cried plenty, I ate little, and I passed my time by doing nothing but absentmindedly staring at a wall. Eventually, it had seemed like I had lost all emotion and I was just a shell. An empty husk with no soul. That’s how Koyama kept describing my behaviour. More months passed.

“Once an entire year went by, I finally made a decision. Instead of continuing to be probed and experimented on, I would just escape. If I could get out, I could easily kill myself later any time I wanted to. I started practicing a bit with my abilities, and before I knew it I had melted off the door to my cell and procured my gun from a room guarded by at least five men. I fought my way out as hard as I could, and ended up outside within an hour. After losing any pursuers and hiding myself, I decided it was time to finally fulfill my wish. I was going to join my father and leave this awful world behind. That’s what I thought the best solution was.”

“What convinced you to stay?”

She looked up at him, and with a certain softness to her voice she said, “Jay. If he hadn’t stopped me that night, I would probably be dead.”

“So that’s why you two are so close?”

“Yes, well, one of many reasons. He found me, struck up a nice conversation before I could use the knife I found in the garbage, and slowly talked me out of it. After that he took me to a beaten up old shack that he apparently called home, made a bed for me, and fell asleep. He never asked me anything or introduced himself. He just took me in and let me stay the night, no questions asked and no strings attached.”

“Sounds like something he would do.”

“He’s too nice, isn’t he? We got to know each other the next morning and it just went from there. Once I told him everything, he agreed to help me hide as long as I learned how to hunt. I was already proficient enough with my rifle, so getting the hang of it was easy. I spent those next five years training my fighting skills and sharpening my senses. I was almost caught multiple times, but with Jay’s help we managed to get out of every situation. It was sort of like having a father again. It was nice.”

“I can’t even imagine.” He really couldn’t, either. No matter how many terrible things he felt he’d been through, Maya’s life had been worse in more ways than one. It was impossible for him to sympathize when she’s been through so much more. Sudden curiosity hit him as he asked something completely unrelated. “Hey, so, what’s your name?”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, your father’s last name. Did you use it?”

“I did. His family name was Muramoto. I did go by Muramoto Reika when he was alive. Now I use Maya instead of Reika. That’s all that changed.”

“Does that mean you still use that name?”

“Yes, if I were to say what my full name was, I would probably tell you it’s Muramoto Maya. The unfortunate alliteration of that didn’t hit me until long after I had changed my first name. I suppose it’s easier to say, at least.”

“I… I never would've guessed. That’s incredible.”

“I don’t really find my name that impress-”

“Not that. Just… everything. You. You’re amazing. After everything that’s happened to you, and then everything you went through in just the past few days with me, you still managed to stay strong and think straight. I really can’t believe it. I can’t believe someone like you exists. I might be a little blunt here, but I really do think it’s incredible.”

“Yes, but it didn’t feel incredible.”

“Oh… right. S-Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I just admired your strength, that’s all! Honest!”

He heard a small giggle escape her lips as she looked him in the eyes. “It’s fine. I knew what you meant. I hope you can understand my original point, though. These memories are painful, and losing someone close is hard. That is all true. If you can learn to accept it, and deal with it, it will make you stronger. Allow those you’ve lost to inspire you, and keep you moving even if you feel like you can’t. It’s not an easy process, as I’ve barely managed it myself, but we can work through it together.”

Sora blinked a few times. “You should really be a motivational speaker or something,” he commented, finally managing to crack a wry smile.

Maya’s face reddened. “S-Shut up! I’m trying to help you know! You’re ruining the moment!”

“Calm down. I’m just lightening the mood a little bit. All the gloom is making this alleyway stuffy. What do you say we get out of here?”

“Get out? But where will we go?”

“Out of the city, of course. A different city. The wilderness. Anywhere is better than here.” He stood up and stretched, still feeling sore from the running and his injuries. All the physical activity was definitely not helping the healing process.

Maya stood up as well. “What about Jay?”

Sora froze for a second then slumped his shoulders. “Agh, right.” He gave her a pained smile. “L-Let’s at least find a route out of the city first.”

“That’s reasonable. If we plan the direction we’ll go, then we will be able to leave as soon as we find him. Let’s not take too much time, though.”

He straightened up. “Of course! I wouldn’t want to leave Jay behind either! He’s really helped me a lot, too, so there’s no way I can go without him. I still have to pay him back, after all.” With newfound confidence and a fresh plan, Maya threw the rifle strap over her shoulder and Sora carried the over sized crossbow to the best of his abilities. They took off down the alleyway and ran through the street as the sun began to set on the horizon.

 

“You’re joking, right?” Sora asked as he kneeled down at Maya’s side on the rooftop. Although he didn’t want to believe it, the scene that he saw before him proved that what Maya had told him was no joke.

After agreeing on finding a path out of city that would draw the least attention, they split up to see if they could find anything in the eastern part of the city. They had “borrowed” some walkie talkies from an electronics store in order to keep in contact, but neither of them had any luck with the first two places they checked. Maya told him she’d go up to the top of a high building to see if there was anything from there. After climbing a reasonable distance to the top of a medium sized building, she had contacted him saying that as far as the eye could see, every route in and out of the city was blockaded. He didn’t believe it.

She told him where she was and once he reached the top, he saw it for himself. Police and agent vehicles blocked every path visible from the building, and cars and pedestrians were constantly being stopped. The blood drained from Sora’s face as he scanned the entirety of what he could see.

“Does this look like a joke to you?” Maya asked as she looked around through the scope of her rifle.

“But, this means…”

She nodded. “We’re trapped in the city. The only way out now, is by force.”

Sora cursed to himself as he continued to look at the hopeless obstacle that had just presented itself. “Koyama won’t make it easy for us, will he?”

“Not just Koyama. He’s only a captain after all. It would appear his superiors have it out for us as well.”

“Just our luck.”

“Indeed.”


	9. Burial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so... this one took a while. I was a bit busy writing something else, but I managed to finish it on time and now I can get back to this. I really do want to finish this story, despite it not being... my best attempt at writing. Either way, here ya go.

    Sora and Maya moved stealthily through the night as they tried their best to avoid the constant checkpoints set up around the perimeter of the city. As they progressed, they attempted to find an opening in the barricade. There was no visible weakness in the defense, and they quickly grew tired the farther they went. Sora began breathing heavily in no time at all, while Maya took a significantly longer time to become visibly tired in any way. There was a large difference between their fitness levels, that much was certain. He could almost laugh at himself and how pitiful he was. He was the cause of their first break as they took refuge in yet another alleyway to catch their breath. Maya stayed constantly vigilant on the side as Sora leaned against the wall and gasped for air. They were moving far too fast for him.

    “Can’t we slow the pace a little?” he asked as he continued to exhale intensely. “I don’t think I can keep up.”

    “We don’t really have a choice, so you’ll have to bear with it,” Maya replied matter of factly. She was barely panting. “We are in a bit of a rush.”

    “I know! But I’m not exactly in the best physical condition. Fricken sue me.”

    “No need to get snippy. I’m simply stating the facts. Tell me when you’re ready to keep going.”

    “For God’s sake, what are we even doing anyway? You even said yourself that the only out was by force. Now you’re trying to find a peaceful way to escape? The hell?”

    “Well, I didn’t know you’d go and complain about it. I thought you preferred a peaceful solution.”

    “Yeah, but at this rate it’s impossible. I think we’ll have to fight.”

    “Out of the question. You’re still injured and lack experience compared to our opponents. Even if we have powers, we’re still weaker.”

    “My injuries are fine. They don’t hurt nearly as much as they did this morn-”

    “No means no, Sora! I’m not letting you get yourself hurt. Now be quiet and follow me.” She motioned for him to continue as she took off from her place at the corner of the wall.

    “Sheesh, what’s gotten into her?” He obediently followed as they kept going along the dark streets. They ran for what felt like hours before Maya finally stopped, leaning her rifle against the nearest wall and bending over. She put her hands on her knees as she breathed rapidly. Sora collapsed on the ground and sat upright against the wall.

    “We are… too exposed… here…” Maya was able to say in between breaths. After just a few seconds she picked her rifle back up and scanned the area, seemingly already much less exhausted than she had just been.

    “Guh, this is ridiculous. This seems futile, don’t you think?” Sora turned his head towards her, still panting rapidly.

    “Sorry, but I’m not in the business of giving up. I’ve already had too many close calls.”

    “Look, I’m just saying we should give up for no-”

    He was interrupted by a loud bang as he saw a bullet tear right through Maya’s side, causing her to stagger and wince. She quickly recovered as she whirled around and fired her own shot in the direction the bullet came from. A man’s yell could be heard as he saw a body drop to the ground just a few yards away. Sora got up quickly as more gunshots were heard from the same direction.

“We need to go.” Maya turned and started running in the opposite direction, with Sora attempting to keep pace as he blocked the oncoming shots with his purple shields. He had to run in an awkward position where he twisted the top half of his body as far as it would go to make sure he could see the bullets coming. Maya occasionally returned fire as she ran, but she seemed more focused on what was ahead of her.

The chase continued until they ended up running into another checkpoint, which of course was alerted very quickly to their presence with so much noise following them. The soldiers at the station immediately raised their weapons and opened fire, causing a flurry of noise as the tank also stationed there fired off a shell from its main cannon. Maya sidestepped the cannon blast as Sora got in front just in time to block the volley from the rifles. The men from behind continued to approach, causing a need for Maya and Sora to reposition quickly.

With fast movements that seemed almost simultaneous, Maya shot two explosive bullets at both groups of advancing soldiers, allowing them to run past the station and into the woods beyond the city. The soldiers followed intently, shouting and shooting frantically. Their aim was insanely good, allowing another bullet to hit Maya right in the lower calf. A small groan of pain could be heard from her, but she kept running at the same pace as before without slowing down. They heard the tank fire again as an explosion went off right in between them, shoving them off their feet and in opposite directions of each other.

“Ack!” Sora hit the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of him. He looked over at Maya to make sure she was alright but was horrified to see a tree, having been severely weakened by the blast, was falling right in her direction. Without hesitation he got up, adrenaline obviously at work now, and dove on top of Maya, putting up a shield just as the tree hit. It was heavy, and there was no way he would be able to hold it up, but he managed to knock it aside so it landed safely next to them.  He put up another shield for the advancing soldiers and beckoned Maya to get up.

“That was close. Thanks.” She flashed a smile of gratitude as she stood up slowly. She was in bad shape, but that didn’t stop her from continuing to press on with Sora by her side. They ran until they could easily hide from the soldiers, ducking low in a bush as they passed by and then went back to their previous positions. They waited for it to grow quiet again before they relaxed. They both sat on the ground, exhausted.

“Wow, I thought that would never end. Somehow we made it through.” Sora sighed in relief as he leaned back on his arms.

“Indeed. Quite the close call, that one.” Maya adjusted herself as she let out pained moaning noises. She shifted around as she pulled out bandages from one of her pockets. She painfully pulled the bullet out of her leg wound and wrapped it, repeating the same process with her side wound. She made many pained noises, but she never complained.

“Er, you sure you don’t want any help with that?”

“I should be fine now. Jay taught me a bit of first aid a while back.” She finished wrapping her wounds and checked them for quality. They seemed to be up to her standards.

“So do you just carry those bandages around with you?”

“I do. It seems they’ve helped quite a lot so far. I was able to patch you with them, and now I was able to treat my own wounds. They are very handy.”

“You seem prepared for everything.”

“Not true. I was highly unprepared for the bullet in my side. I was just able to react quickly enough. Do you really think fighting with a bullet wound is easy?”

“That’s… not what I meant to imply. All I’m saying is that you’re impressive in a lot of different ways.”

“As you’ve said many times before. Perhaps you could be exaggerating just a bit.”

“Think what you will, I’m still impressed. Putting that aside, what are we going to do? We still haven’t found Jay and now we’re out of the city. They’ll probably come looking for us soon, so we should get moving.”

“I refuse to leave without Jay.”

“But can we really go ba-”

“No need for that!” a voice shouted, cutting Sora off as they both turned to see its source. A familiar, rugged man came stumbling out of the bushes, looking a bit worse for wear but overall unharmed. “Here I am.” Jay smiled weakly. Something seemed to be bothering him.

“You’re okay!” Maya immediately stood up, but sat back down after wincing from the sudden movement. “Ergh.”

“Yes, but don’t hurt yourself now. Take it easy, I ain’t going anywhere for a while. Sora, I have a… er… present for you.”

“Present?”

“Well,” Jay scratched his head and frowned, “kinda. Don’t expect something nice, though, because it’s not. It’s probably rather upsetting, actually.”

“What?”

“Just come over here, boy.” He waved Sora over as he walked back through the bush he came from. Confused, Sora followed. His heart dropped as he went through the brush and looked at what Jay had wanted to show him. He stared in astonishment as a familiar figure lay on the ground in front of him.

“What… What is this…?”

“Hm? Exactly what it looks like. I figured you’d want to give her a proper burial.”

Sora looked down at the body of his sister, lying motionless on the floor. He was frozen in place, unable to move at the terrible sight. He was already having issues dealing with his sister’s death, but seeing her again made it worse. Much worse. He slowly stalked over to Nanami’s body, kneeled down next to her, and looked at her face closely. Even now, staring at the dead body, Sora could hardly believe it was his sister. He just didn’t want it to be true.

Jay stayed silent, and waited for the inevitable reaction he knew Sora would have. As Sora continued to stay still next to his sister, Maya dragged herself over to see what was happening. She let out a small gasp as she slowly stood up next to Jay.

“How did you…” she whispered to Jay quietly.

“Well, after I got separated from you two during the camp raid, I ended up wandering the forest a bit. I eventually ran into that prison and then remembered that you had both gone there to save Sora’s sister. But you failed. I decided to sneak up to the roof to get a better view of the surroundings, and lo and behold I find her lying up there with four bullet holes in the back. She doesn’t look much like her brother, honestly, but who else could it have been? I figured I’d take a chance and take her with me. It ain’t fun dragging a body around, but who wouldn’t want to give their family a proper burial?”

Maya sighed. “How can you be so reckless? You could have easily gotten caught and killed yourself. Not only that, but you based taking her with you on assumptions. For all you knew, you could have been dragging a complete stranger.” She gritted her teeth as she looked towards the ground. “I can’t believe they just left her there.”

“It was worth it, though. At least he can have closure now. At least he can bury her.” They both fell silent as Sora began to cry. Jay closed his eyes and Maya didn’t take her’s off the ground.

Sora’s cries grew louder and louder until he was practically wailing, and Maya finally decided to step in after an excruciatingly long time. That’s what it felt like, at least. She moved over to Sora’s side and crouched next to him, attempting to ignore the pain in her calf as she tried to calm him down. She put a hand on his shoulder and patted him, not really knowing what else she could do. He continued to cry until the sun could be seen creeping up over the horizon.

 

Sora slowly lowered Nanami into the hole that Jay dug. He obviously still wanted to cry, but he had already done that so much that he had not more tears to spare. He looked down at the hole solemnly as Jay filled it in with dirt. Sora placed a few rocks in a small pile about the grave, in order to remember its location. After placing the rocks, he stood up and lined up in front of the grave with Jay on his left and Maya on his right. He took a deep breath.

“Nanami. My one and only sister, who I’ve looked after my entire life. We shared countless memories with each other over the years. Our childhood was peaceful and joyous. She was good company when I was sad, and fun to play with on the playground. We were as close as two siblings could be. Despite how much I loved her, though, I couldn’t protect her. Because of my incompetence and my weakness, I was unable to save her from this terrible war, and this terrible fate. Nanami, I will miss you more than you’ll ever know. I can’t ever forget you, and I can’t ever forgive myself. I’m happy to have been your older brother. Thank you… and I’m sorry.” Sora trembled as he said his last words to his sister. He could barely stand upright by the time he was done with his speech.

Maya looked over at Sora and then back to the grave. “I’m sorry I can’t say much in this situation, due to the fact that I never got the chance to formally meet you. I do know, though, that you were a very important part of Sora’s life. Losing family is painful, and it’s even worse the closer you were to them. I can’t compliment you, or reminisce about the time we used to spend together, but I can thank you. I can thank you for being there for Sora, my friend, through any and all hardships he had to go through. I deeply regret not being able to rescue you. I definitely wanted to get to know you, and I’m sorry I couldn’t have been of more help. I promise I’ll look after your brother. You have nothing to worry about.” She gave Sora a pat on the back as Jay slowly put his hat back on. They stood there in silence for a long time.

“Guess we should be going now, eh?” Sora looked up and sadly smiled at Maya.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. I think I managed to say everything I wanted to.”

“I see. That’s good then.”

“Where should we go from here?”

“Hmm…” Maya thought as they walked away from the grave. The atmosphere felt a bit lighter now that the words had been said to Nanami, but it was still a little heavy. Sora’s change in subject helped him deal with the sorrowful mood. He needed to go back to focusing on survival now that he was able to bury his sister. It was the least he could do to remember her.

After a few seconds, Maya spoke up. “We have two options: Run away from the city, or fight. We don’t have the option of surrender.”

Jay picked up his crossbow that was lying next to Maya’s rifle as they reached the tree the weapons had been leaning on. “I say we just get out of here. There’s no point fighting a war we have no stake in.”

“As much as I want to help the city, we have no chance of winning fighting by ourselves,” Sora said bitterly as Maya deconstructed her rifle.

“So, we run then?” Maya raised an eyebrow.

“Only logical thing to do at this point.”

“Alright then. Let’s go.”

“Now, where do you think you’re going?” A sinister voice stopped them all in their tracks. They turned around simultaneously to find Captain Koyama standing right behind them, already wearing the prototype armor Sora and Maya had fought him in before. He had one arm raised with the various gun barrels sticking out from his wrists. “Found ya.”

Sora glared intensely at Koyama as government soldiers came out of the bushes all around them. Jay and Maya sighed together as they dropped their weapons on the ground. Koyama smirked as one of the soldiers confiscated the weapons.

Jay spoke up first. “Well well, if it isn’t Koyama. Thought I recognized you from all those years ago.”

“Oh, you remember me? How nice. I’m sure you’ve heard all the wonderful stories about me from sweet little Reika. I’m glad I was able to finally see you up close old man. You helped her out after her escape, did you not?”

“So what if I did?”

“Why, you took one of my favorite toys away. I really didn’t take that lightly.”

“So sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. I’m finally able to pay you back now.” Koyama fired a bullet straight through Jay’s head. Maya and Sora stared wide eyed in horror as Jay hit the ground. Koyama cackled slightly as he lowered his arm. “Whew, that felt good.”

Maya turned angrily towards Koyama. Her eyes were on fire, and she pounced at him with killing intent. “You bastard!” She was quickly tackled to the ground by another soldier as Sora was also apprehended behind her, too shocked to even resist.

Koyama turned around and started walking in the opposite direction as the soldiers followed in his wake. Maya and Sora got dragged farther and farther away from Jay as they kept walking. “Stop! Stop! Wait a minute you fucking bastard!” Maya shouted furiously as they continued marching through the forest, leaving Jay’s dead body behind.

 


	10. The Girl in the Night

The girl ran through the empty streets and alleyways of the dark city. God knew what time it was, but it was late enough for mostly every inhabitant to be off the streets. She ran quickly, dodging and weaving her way through the twists and turns of the back roads as she constantly looked behind her to make sure she wasn’t being followed. Her breathing was ragged and her muscles ached, but she kept going. She didn’t stop. She didn’t want to stop until she felt safe. Well, safe enough.

An uncontrollable coughing fit finally stopped her in her tracks. The girl hunched over and threw up all over the ground in front of her. She leaned against the wall of the alley as she slowly slid down to the ground. Tears began welling in her eyes as she inspected her knife. It was a nice knife. Fancy looking and intricately designed. She couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to throw out a knife this seemingly expensive. It was well made, and it gleamed under the gloomy moonlight.

She was in thought. Not the good kind, though. She couldn’t stop herself from thinking terrible thoughts. She turned the knife over and over in her hands as she contemplated something. Something… She wasn’t so sure of it yet. The girl knew she wanted it, but didn’t know if she could actually do it. But what was there to hesitate about? Her world had already crumbled around her, and this single, shining silver blade she had found in a gutter was her way out. She would finally be free of her terrible existence. So why hesitate?

The girl firmly grasped the handle of the knife, shakily holding on with both hands. Where does she do it? The throat? The stomach? The heart? It was a difficult decision. She didn’t know which option would kill her quickest. The options scrolled through her head over and over as she tried to choose. It was a hard choice.

Eventually she was able to settle on the heart. It was basically the one thing keeping her body moving, so destroying it would be the fast way. Yes, that was definitely the best option. Her hands were still shaking, but she made up her mind. She sniffled a few times and wiped the tears from her eyes, a new look of determination on her face. She was ready. 

The knife rose, her white knuckles gripping the handle, and her look of determination soon turned to fear. Of course she was afraid. She knew it wouldn’t be easy. She gulped and choked on her tears again, but fought them back as the knife rose higher and higher. Her face was still afraid, but the blade kept moving up. It kept going. Up and up. It was almost moving in slow motion. It’s painfully slow ascent just allowed her more time to fear what was about to happen. She thought she would be relieved, or even happy. But she wasn’t. She was scared. 

It stops. The knife stops its upward motion and just sits there, in the girls hands, right in front of her face, waiting for its orders. Her hands are shaking even more than before now, but there was no turning back. This was it. She was ready to plunge the knife into its target, and finally get the relief she’d been begging for in the span of more than a year. She was ready, yet the knife would not move. She kept trying to will her muscles to move, to pull the knife downward. Her arms wouldn’t budge, however. She screamed in rage as she repeatedly attempted and failed to move her arms even an inch. Why wasn’t it working? What was wrong? She had no regrets. There was nothing left for her, not in this world. So why was this happening?

“You really shouldn’t waste such a pretty face.” A voice came out of nowhere and startled the girl. She jumped and turned around wildly, trying to pinpoint the direction it had come from. Despite having a large gun hanging off her shoulder, she held up the knife as she vigorously spun around. She couldn’t see anybody, but somebody was definitely there.

She let out a frustrated growl as a man finally walked out the shadows. He was an older man, but tall and obviously in good physical condition. There was an almost comically large hat on his head, and an equally ridiculous large crossbow strapped over his shoulder. He wore a seemingly curious expression as he revealed himself, with something like a hint of worry somewhere in between.

“Calm down, little lady. I ain’t here to arrest you if that’s what you’re worried about. Just happened to walk by and see a cute little girl in turmoil holding a knife in a suggestively suicidal position. Seems you’re having a bit of trouble.”

“W-W-Wha… W-W-Who…” The girl’s words came out in stammers, and she didn’t even form a complete sentence as she began to shiver violently.

The man raised his hands in front of him and motioned for her to lower the knife. “Look, I know you’re upset. That much is obvious. Please just try to calm down and put the knife on the floor. Can you do that? Just put it down dear. Please just put it down.”

The girl broke down crying as she released the blade and fell to the floor on her knees. The knife clattered to the ground as she hunched over and started sobbing. The man seemed a little taken aback by her instant reaction, but quickly picked the knife up off the ground and kneeled next to the girl.

“Hey, you okay? Of course not. Don’t worry, though, no more bad things will happen. Here, just come with me. You could probably use some sleep.” He held out his hand and waited for the girl to respond, which took a while. She just sat there and cried, occasionally looking up at the man’s outstretched hand as he patiently waited there in silence.

The girl finally took his hand and managed to stand up, but her legs were shaky at best and she leaned up against the wall for support. The man tried to help her the best he possibly could, but was interrupted by a voice.

“Ah, there you are. I knew you wouldn’t get far.” They both turned at the same time and saw a shaved head and assault rifle right behind them. The man wore a military uniform and he looked to be in his late forties, at least. The girl instantly took refuge behind the man with the hat, hiding herself from the newly arrived soldier. The soldier sighed as he raised his rifle slightly. “Please, Reika, don’t make this difficult. Just come peacefully.”

The man with the hat lifted an eyebrow as the girl shook her head vigorously and held onto his shirt, quaking with fear as the soldier took one step closer. “Seems she’s not too fond of you. Don’t think she’ll be coming with ya, mister.”

“Ha, that’s rich. She’s my property, so if you’d kindly hand her over I could compensate you nicely and make it worth your while.”

“Hm…” the man seemed to think for a second as he looked back down at the girl clinging onto him desperately, holding his shirt with a death grip. “I appreciate the offer, but something tells me I’m not on your side here. You should probably leave.”

The soldier raised his rifle before the man even finished his sentence. “You’re going to regret that decision.”

“Oh?” The man smirked as the soldier fired several shots, causing the girl to shriek in fear as the man moved swiftly to the side, making sure to keep the girl safe behind him, as he swung his crossbow with its strap into his right hand and shot an arrow right through the soldier’s shoulder. The soldier grunted in pain as the force of the arrow driving through his shoulder sent him backwards a few inches. The man took the opportunity and picked the girl up, taking off at full speed down the alley and around the nearest corner. As soon as the soldier was out of sight, the man glanced down at the girl in his arms. “You alright?” The girl nodded, but said nothing. She looked on the verge of tears again, from what the man assumed was fear. The man winced as he stumbled slightly in his stride, but continued with determination. He didn’t know why, but he just felt like he needed to protect this girl. He wasn’t usually so sympathetic. He found it strange.

They eventually reached a small, beaten up wooden shack in the outskirts of what could be considered the city’s “slums”. The man opened the door and set the girl down on a mat on the far side of the room. He walked back over and took one more look outside before shutting the door with a soft thud. He turned back around as he put his crossbow down on the floor next to the entrance. He rubbed the back of his neck as he broke the somewhat awkward silence. “Er, so, I know this is sudden… but you’ll be staying here tonight. Sorry about my rash actions, but I just kinda ran on autopilot for a bit. Hope you don’t mind.” He forced a smile as he strode over to his own bed and lied down.

The girl shifted around a few times and looked over at the man from the mat. He looked back over at her once, but then turned over to his side and fell asleep. The girl kept staring at him curiously until she, too, became too drowsy to stay to awake. She closed her eyes slowly as the man faded into black.

 

The morning was calm and quiet. It was in sharp contrast from the previous night’s events, and it was somehow slightly unsettling to the girl as she opened her eyes. Of course waking up to a peaceful morning was far more preferable than how she had been living previously, she wasn’t used to the comforting feeling of an actual house. She hadn’t been for a long time.

The girl yawned as she sat up, the blanket that she was sure wasn’t there when she went to sleep falling to her lap. She looked over and saw the man sitting on the edge of his bed, finicking with his ridiculous crossbow. He turned to her as she yawned again, smirking slightly as he continued to handle the crossbow. “Mornin,” he said, “Sleep well?”

The girl nodded hesitantly. “B-Best in a while.” The man put his crossbow down on the bed and fully faced the girl. His eyes were brighter than last night and he wore the look of a reminiscing grandfather. He was certainly happier, if anything.

“That so? Feel like having an actual conversation now?”

“W-What’s that supposed to mean?”

“This is the most you’ve talked I think, since last night. Though I figure you were a bit panicked then. Have you calmed down a bit?”

“Y-Yeah…” The girl still didn’t trust him completely, but he had saved her life two times in one night and had let her sleep in his house without so much as asking a single question about her identity or origin. She figured he saved those questions for now, when they both had a clearer head and a better understanding of the situation.

“Okay then, I’ll start. Why don’t you tell me your name, little lady?”

“Um… Rei- no… erm… you can just call me Maya.” The slight shudder of the girl as she said the first name did not go unnoticed, but did go unmentioned.

“Maya, eh? You can call me Jay. I’m a bounty hunter! Well, at least, I used to be. I’m a bit old, so I’m mostly retired. I take an odd job every now and then, but my grandiose days of hunting the most dangerous criminals are certainly over.” He laughed heartily as he slapped his knee, seeming to be very amused by his own circumstances. “What about you? You were in pretty rough shape last night. Anything to do with that soldier that was after you?”

“More or less.”

“A bit reluctant to talk about it? It’s okay, I understand. Some things are hard to talk about. I can also certainly understand you not trusting me completely. I’m just a random old guy, after all.” He laughed again.

“Why did you help me?”

“Why? Now that’s a very good question. It certainly is strange for me to stick my nose into this, especially when I have no stake in it and I have no idea what’s happening. It was really more of a reflex, honestly. Not too sure myself. He just seemed like trouble, that soldier, and you weren’t exactly in any condition to fight him off or anything. I just kinda… did it.”

“What an utterly asinine reason.”

“Ouch. You hate me that much, huh?”

“No, I’m thankful it’s just… so nonsensical.”

“Wow, you seem pretty smart. You’re obviously not homeless or anything. Where you from? How old are you?”

“Not too far from here. My father raised me. I’m twelve.”

“Hoh, so young. Now we’re getting somewhere. I won’t pry any further for now, but make sure you tell me more about yourself when you can. I am a bit curious.”

“For now?”

“Oh I’m sorry, were you planning are going back out to the streets? Or back to the government? Of course not. I’ll let you stay with me instead. It’s free as long as you learn how to hunt. Pretty sweet deal, am I right?”

“Simple enough. Where would I hunt though?”

“In the woods of course! There’s some not too far from here. Gotta eat something.”

“I… see. T-Thank you.”

Jay gave a cheeky grin as he stood up. “It’s my pleasure. I still don’t know why I’m doing this, but it may not be so bad having company around. I’ve been alone for a while.”

Maya finally got up off the floor and stretched, cracking a small smile as she did. It was the first time she’d done so in almost a year. “I’ll be in your care, then.”


	11. I Just Want Her Back

A painful electric shock jolted Maya out of her daydreaming. She had been spacing out for a good few hours since getting captured, but now she was brought back to reality. When she looked up all she saw was the face of the man she hated most. Captain Koyama of the Third Battalion. A disgusting creature. His eyes were calm and his smirk was playful, almost amused. He was probably also a sadist, something Maya could only think of with contempt.

“Oh dear, now what’s that look for? You look like you’re about ready to kill me,” Koyama said, still keeping the same amused smirk on his face. “That wouldn’t be very nice. Have I done something to offend you?”

“You know full well what you’ve done.” Maya looked down at the ground and noticed she was suspended in mid air, almost like she was floating. She inspected her wrists and ankles and saw she wasn’t restrained with ordinary shackles, but rather glowing energy beams that suspended her up off the ground. It was obvious why he wouldn’t use regular restraints, as she’d just be able to infuse them with heat and melt them. She winced as she was shocked once more, this time throughout her entire body. It was too bad the psychopathic sadist was also smart. She could almost laugh.

“Sorry, does that hurt? Not enough apparently, because that barely got any reaction at all. Perhaps I need to crank it up a bit?” Koyama pushed up a slider on a remote he was carrying and pressed a button. The shocks came again, this time more intense. Maya let out a loud groan as the pain subsided. “You like it? It’s a prototype restraint we’ve been working on for years. It ain’t easy stabilizing all that energy, but oh man is it worth it. Now I can have more fun with you than ever before! How exciting!”

“This is what excites you? You’re as much of a freak now as you were back then.”

“Yes, but my tastes have changed slightly. It simply isn’t worth it anymore unless I get to see that pained expression on your face. It’s a truly beautiful expression.” He raised the slider even further and pressed the button. The shock was noticeably stronger, and far more painful than the past two. Maya simply screamed until the shock stopped, her body going numb as she gasped for air. She looked up angrily at Koyama, but he continued smirking as he slid it up again.

“Did it hurt more? Excellent, that scream was excellent. The best part is, that wasn’t even the max setting. This, along with all of the other tools at my disposal, will make the process just that much more enjoyable. I’m sure you can’t wait to get started. We will, soon enough, I promise you. Once I attend to some things,” he put the remote down on a table near the door, “I’ll be back.” He laughed briefly as the door closed behind him. Maya stared expressionless down at the floor as her mind blankly wandered once more.

 

Sora’s posture became rigidly straight as the man walked into the room. He remembered him. It was the same man who has interrogated him the first time he was captured after the school attack. He had the same slick blonde hair and mustache as before, and of course was just as large. Sora was somehow less intimidated this time, as all he did was stare daggers at him as he sat down. The table was even the same as before.

“Well, nice to see you back,” the man said in his calm, nonchalant way. There was still something about the way he spoke that rubbed Sora the wrong way, but he still couldn’t figure out what it was. “Are you feeling a bit more cooperative this time?”

“Huh, that’s a laugh. Less, if anything.”

“You really want to make this difficult don’t you? You do know your position, yes?”

“Yeah, I could easily just blow your head off right now, no sweat. Nothing’s gonna stop me.”

The man pondered this for a moment while stroking his mustache. Sora rolled his eyes at the action. “You could try it, but I highly doubt it would get you anywhere. I must admit, your power IS impressive. Your control seems minimal at best, though, so I’m sure I’m not in any sort of danger right now.”

“You talk like you know everything. Want to find out?” Sora seemed to find what made him so angry just talking to the guy.

“Slow down there. I assure you, you’ll accomplish nothing. You can’t beat me. Like you said,” he paused, as if trying to make the next line more dramatic, “you’re only seventeen.”

“Suppose you think you’re funny?”

“Just amusing myself since you’ve decided to be difficult. It’s no matter though, because it’s your friend who Koyama was mostly after anyway. I could do basically anything to you right now and he wouldn’t even care.”

“You think I care if he cares? Why’s he so obsessed with Maya anyways?”

“Let’s just say they have a past, and he likes using her as a form of… entertainment.”

“Entertainment…?” Sora tensed up slightly and looked the man right in the eyes. “What is he doing to her?” He glared angrily at the man, but just as he was about to speak a scream rang out. It was somewhat distant, but audible and distinct. He knew immediately it was Maya, and it only made him angrier. He slammed his hands down on the table. “What the hell is he doing?!”

“Calm yourself, it’s not like you can do anything about it. Just sit still for once in your life.”

“You piece of shit. What is happening to her?! Do you think I can stay calm after that?!”

“Perhaps not, but you still can’t do anyth-”

Sora flung the table out from in between them and grabbed the man by the collar, shaking him violently. “The hell I can’t!” He summoned a shield with his free hand and swung it right into the man’s head. He could hear his skull crack as he impacted the wall, causing Sora to cringe slightly as he charged a blast and blew out the door. “No match for ya, eh?” He casually walked out and looked around. “Still a fucking rat maze I see.” Just then he heard another scream, making him realize what he was doing. He turned and ran down the hallway in the direction the sound came from.

There was another scream. It sounded far worse than the rest. Another scream.

 

“My, what delicious sounds you’re making! I could do this all day!” Koyama snickered as he pressed the button on his remote again. Maya screamed in agony once more. “Beautiful!”

Maya let out a pained groan as she caught her breath. “How long… until you are satisfied?”

“Oh this is just the beginning. Do you really think electric shocks will give me my fill? Foolish! Of course not! I have much better things lined up already. Many new toys at my disposal. Once I take care of your pesky little friend, then we can have all the time in the world.”

“F-Friend…?”

“Of course. Sky boy! What’s his name? Ah, Sora. He’s a real pain in the ass, honestly. Always trying to get in my way only to slip through my fingers every time. Not here, though. Not today. I’ll make sure to finish him off this time.” Koyama let out a sinister cackle as he set the remote down. “He’s a pest, but he’s a weak pest.”

“Don’t you… dare… hurt… Sora…”

“Just save your energy, you’ll need it for later. As for me, I should get prepared! He’ll be arriving very soon.” Koyama turned to his right and walked toward the wall, tapped in a combination on the panel in front of him, and stepped back as the wall opened with a clatter. His glowing power suit stood inside the open chamber, ready to be worn. He stepped into the first boot, right foot forward, and at the same time turned around and fell backwards as the suit automatically opened and fit over him. In one swift motion the suit was donned and engaged.

Sora smashed through the door the second Koyama was finished putting on the armor. He whipped his head around the room quickly, spotting Maya in restraints and Koyama not far from her at the opposite wall. He sighed and took a couple paces toward Koyama, one slow step at a time.

“Oh man, I was wondering why the alarms weren’t blaring. Expected me all along, it seems.”

“Of course I knew you would come. Why wouldn’t you? You came back for your sister, so naturally you’d come rescue your dear friend as well. It’s unfortunate you’ll have to fail again.”

“Save it. I’m done trying to speak to you. There’s nothing left to say. I’m only here for Maya, and I’m only fighting you if you’re getting in my way.”

“What the hell? You think I’m just going to let you take her? After I finally got her back? Not likely. Though I must admit, I’m more surprised you don’t WANT to fight me. You really struck me as the revenge type.”

“That’s nice, buddy. Now you gonna hand her over or what?”

“Okay, now you’re just making fun of me.”

“Not at all. I just want Maya back.”

“Not in your dreams, boy.”

“Fine. Come at me.”

“Now you’re just pissing me off!” Koyama launched at him, using the rocket boosters on the bottom of his feet to fire forward. Sora immediately raised a shield and braced for impact. He expected significant force, but Koyama’s rocket propelled punch knocked him completely backwards, shattering the shield and causing him to hit the wall behind him. Hard. He fell to the ground face first after dropping from the point of impact on the wall and didn’t move.

Koyama rolled his shoulder around and stretched. “Well that was disappointing.” He turned to look at Maya, who was making an unmistakably horrified face. 

“Sora!” She repeatedly called his name over and over again until she stopped and seemed to gasp. Confused, Koyama turned around to see Sora getting back up to his feet, barely managing to not fall over.

“I agree,” he said with a slight smirk on his face, “You didn’t kill me. I’m pretty disappointed in the lack of impact.”  

“Just keep running your mouth, kid. You won’t survive another punch like that.” He charged again, this time simply breaking into a run towards Sora. Sora fired a blast, but Koyama easily absorbed it and continued forward with no issues. He unsheathed a knife from the wrist of his suit and swung it in a wide arc, barely getting blocked by a desperate shield. Sora got flung to the left, but he managed to keep the shield up this time as he slid to a stop a good ten feet away.

Sora was hardly recovered as Koyama wasted no time turning on his heels and stabbing at him in quick, successive motions. Jab after jab was blocked by Sora’s shield, but the sheer strength that the suit gave Koyama was overwhelming. Every few thrusts of the knife caused a shield to break, and another had to be formed within half a second before the next knife jab came. 

Sora knew he couldn’t keep up, and had to get out quickly unless he felt like getting filleted by Koyama’s ridiculously sized knife. He ducked down after a particularly hard jab that broke his shield once more, and blasted the ground beneath him to propel him up and forwards. Koyama was barely phased, but the cloud of smoke left behind was all the cover Sora needed. After landing, he propelled himself again, this time towards Maya, who was still floating limply above the ground in the energy restraints. He destroyed the metal bars projecting the energy and caught Maya as she fell from her imprisonment. He then dashed over to where Maya’s rifle was being kept, thankfully in its retracted form, and placed it in her arms. Koyama finally revealed himself through the smoke which had all but cleared, and he lunged at them as Sora shot upwards, propelling himself up and simultaneously blowing a hole in the ceiling.

“You think it’s that easy?!” Koyama screamed as he fired his wrist gun up at Sora as he made his way through the hole.

“Guh!” One of the bullets hit Sora’s right calf, but he kept going nonetheless. Koyama activated his rocket boosters and flew after them, but Sora began his descent almost immediately after he did so. The impact was hard, and even though he tried to cushion his fall, it still sent shivers up his entire body and caused him to momentarily falter. He regained his footing and continued forward, running off into the city, whose lights were just beginning to illuminate the darkness.

The streets were eerily calm and empty, even though it couldn’t have been later than eight or nine at night. Sora gradually slowed his pace until he came to stop to catch his breath.

“Sora,” Maya said softly, as if not to disturb the silence around them, “I think I’m okay now. You can put me down.”

“S-Sure.” He did as he was told and slowly lowered her feet to the floor. She wobbled slightly but managed to stand up straight after a few tries with Sora’s support. Just as Maya regained her footing, footsteps could be heard coming toward them. They looked around frantically until they finally saw a shadow approaching from up ahead.

“Hello hello! Fancy seeing you two again! It’s only been a couple days, but it feels like forever.” The shadow stepped forward to reveal who it was.

“Kenzo?” Sora’s mouth went slightly agape in surprise.

“That’s me. I must say, you’ve really done me a favor by leading the captain of one of the strongest battalions in the armed forces here. Our ambush plan is certain to go favorably now. I thank you graciously.”

“It’s not like I… Wait what?” He turned around to see Koyama behind them, lumbering forward like some sort of large, wild beast. He stopped when he saw them with Kenzo and seemed to smirk slightly. 

“You rebel bastards again? God, you’re all so fucking annoying. Do you understand the amount of resources I had to use on that last bombing strike?”

“I’m sure you’ll manage. You sure did a number on us with that one, though. I think I’ll have to pay you back for that, since I lost a lot of good men in that attack.”

“That was the plan, smart guy. Do you happen to know these kids, by any chance?”

“I may. I may not. Not to say I’m on their side one way or the other.” Kenzo shrugged and held up his forearm in a standard ‘hold fire’ position as he tilted his head slightly. “That’s not what I’m here for, though. Certainly not to make conversation with you.”

Koyama let out an exaggerated sigh. “I see. A trap, is it?”

Kenzo smiled and said, “You got it.” As he did, he threw his arm down, and the loud booms of many cannons could be heard as the road around Koyama exploded and Kenzo could be seen cackling to himself, drowned out by the excessive noise.

 


End file.
